Small Town Blues
by PrinceSolaris
Summary: AU. Nick has lived in the city all his life. His parents decide it's high-time to move back to the country now that Nick is no longer a child. Despite being mature enough to accept the changes beyond his control, he still struggles to cope in this new environment, especially considering the population of Bunnyburrow is ninety-five percent bunny.
1. Chapter 1 - Departure

Nick stared at the blank notebook page in front of him, deep in thought. He glanced over to the black felt pen placed just to the right of the notebook. He sighed solemnly. He glanced out the window of his bedroom at the city below. He and his parents had lived happily in this high-rise apartment for as long as he could remember. Nick watched as the miniscule mammals and vehicles navigated the grid-like streets and sidewalks of the Downtown Core, going about their business as they usually did. A few minutes passed before Nick returned to staring at the empty page placed in front of him.

He had already packed away all his video games, and his computer was sitting in a box just to his left, ready to be hauled away by the movers constantly entering and leaving the apartment. In time, once the boxes were gone, they would come for his chair, then his desk, and his bed. Nick picked up the pen and removed the cap. He was given the notebook as a weak attempt by his mother to keep him entertained while they loaded the trailer. He glanced back to the box containing his computer, smiling slightly. He pressed the pen against the paper and began writing absentmindedly.

 _My parents would always call me a 'battery child' because I was raised in the city._

Nick's ears peaked and he finished his sentence. He heard footsteps coming from down the hall. He turned toward his bedroom door as it opened. In walked Nick's father, David. Nick's ears returned to a neutral position and he calmed himself down. David glanced around the room, prompting Nick to take a look as well. The room was much emptier than it had been previously. The walls, once covered in promotional posters for various video games and bands, were now bare. The bed was fully disassembled, ready to be whisked away by the movers. The clothing that once filled the closet was now packed away in boxes, also ready to be taken away.

By this time, two movers had entered the room behind David, awaiting instruction. Nick watched as his father turned to face the movers. David pointed at the boxes holding the contents from his closet. The movers walked past David and picked up one box each before leaving the room. David placed his paws on his hips and shot a glance at the box containing Nick's computer. He looked toward his son.

"Your mother is packing away the dishes in the kitchen, and we just finished our room. You ready to do your room?" said David, crossing his arms. Nick took one last look around his bedroom before looking back toward his father.

"I guess so," Nick replied quietly. Nick stood up from his chair to join his father in the doorway. David had already scooped up the computer box, leaving Nick to take his office chair. David led Nick down the hallway past the kitchen, where his mother was still packing dishes, and into the entryway.

"A little help, Nick?" asked David, standing in front of the door. Taking the hint, Nick put his chair down and ran in front of his father. He opened the door for him and propped it open using a stray doorstop from the hallway. "Thanks. One of them must've accidentally kicked the doorstop out on their last trip."

The two left the apartment and walked down the hallway until they reached the elevators. The apartment was on the twenty-second floor of a high-rise apartment complex, so it was much easier to use the elevators over the stairs when carrying heavy objects. Nick and David entered the elevator, hitting the 'G' button as the doors closed. A few seconds later, and the two were on the ground floor. The doors opened to reveal a luxurious foyer, jam-packed with sofas and chairs, among other things. Nick and David passed the two movers as they exited the building.

The moving truck was on the smaller side, but they had already made a trip a day before, in which they had packed away the living room, dining room, and a lot of clutter from their storage closets. His parents offered him to tag along to see the new house, but Nick declined, as he wanted to say goodbye to all his friends in person. All that remained was the washroom, kitchen, his parents room, and finally, his room. With two out four completed, it wouldn't be long before they would be leaving the apartment for the last time.

It hurt Nick to think this. It was the only home he's ever known, and it would be difficult to integrate into a new school, what with him only having one year left before graduation. The move didn't come as a surprise, however. His parents would always tell stories of when they had just gotten married. How they used to own a grain farm out in the country, and how they sold the farm and moved to the city to have him, their only son. When Nick asked why they did it, they responded by telling him it would be better if he were raised in the city because of how everything was closer together, and it would be easier in general.

Nick and David made their way back up the elevator to their apartment. He watched as the movers carried bits and pieces of his bed out of his room and down the hall to be packed away with the rest of the furniture. His room felt even more empty now. Only his desk remained. The notebook from earlier remained just as he left it. Slowly, he walked toward the desk, still staring at the notebook. He picked up the book, along with the pen, and read the only sentence he had written over once more. Nick's father returned with the two movers to take away the desk.

The two movers walked around Nick and picked up the desk on either side. Nick stepped aside to allow the movers to leave with the desk. Now Nick and David were the only ones left in the room. David approached Nick, looking at the notebook in Nick's paw

"What do you have there, son?" asked David. Nick lifted the notebook and and held it so his father could see. David squinted as he read the writing on the page. David gave a lighthearted chuckle and placed a paw on Nick's shoulder. "Well it's true, but that's all gonna change real soon. Just wait til you see the property we got a hold of, Nicky. It's beautiful! You'll love it, trust me," he added. Nick smiled weakly.

"I'm sure I will, dad," Nick lied. His father left, leaving Nick alone in the room. He slowly spun around, taking in the now completely empty space. Nick sighed. He walked over to the window and took one last look at the city. The megalopolis stretched out as far as the eye could see, and on a clear day, you could make out the Climate Wall separating Savannah Central from Sahara Square. Nick left the window and stared at the floor as he pulled down the blind. The room fell into darkness as he walked toward the doorway. He held up the notebook against the wall and began writing once more.

 _I can't say much about it, because what they say is true. My dad said that it would change soon, but I doubt I'll change at all._

Nick closed the notebook and put the pen in his pocket. He left the room, turning to peer into it for the last time. He reached into the room and grabbed the doorknob. Nick pulled the door shut and leaned on it. At that moment, David was walking down the hallway. David stopped in front of Nick.

"Your mother just finished packing up the last box. The movers already know where to go, so we're free to leave. The landlord just arrived to collect the key, and also to say goodbye. He's down in the foyer now. If you wanna take a minute to have one last look, that's fine," said David. Nick nodded as his father turned to walk away. He stopped at the end of the hallway and turned back to face Nick. "Remember to lock the door when you leave, alright?" he called. Nick nodded again.

Nick slowly trudged down the hallway, glancing back and forth at the walls that once contained family photos. He passed the kitchen and made his way into the living room, where he found his mother, Janice, staring out the windows. One thing Nick had always liked about their apartment were the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room. He slowly approached his mother and stopped next to her. The two looked at each other as they turned to walk to the exit.

"Ready to go?" asked Janice.

"Ready as I can be," Nick replied. The two foxes made their way to the exit. Nick ushered his mother out into the hallway as Nick locked the door. The two peered into the apartment as Nick closed the door, not looking away until the door was completely closed. They then walked down the hallway to the elevators. Nick pressed the button to call one. He looked at his mother, who offered a cheery smile in return. The elevator arrived and they stepped inside. Nick pressed the 'G' button, and the elevator began to descend.

Nick counted down the numbers as they descended. He counted down from twenty-two all the way down to one as they reached the ground floor. The doors opened to reveal David standing in front of the doors, presumably waiting for them.

"I gave the key back to the landlord, and I also pulled the car out front," he said. David, along with Janice and Nick, all walked out of the building together. The car was right where David had said it would be, and they all walked toward it. David got in the driver's seat, while Janice got into the passenger seat, leaving Nick to sit alone in the back. Once inside, The back filled with stray objects that didn't make it into a box. Nick placed the notebook on top of the pile and fastened his seat belt.

"Did you write anything in the notebook?" Janice asked. Nick opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by his father,

"Yup, he wrote that we called him a 'battery child.' We don't mean any harm by it, it's just fact," David responded. Nick turned his attention from his father to his mother.

"That's right. It's just a nickname," Janice added. Nick rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I know, I know," Nick answered. The vehicle lurched forward as Nick's father put it in gear. As they left the lot, Nick turned around in his seat to look at the building he once called home. His father turned onto the street and began driving toward their destination. Nick continued to stare at the building until it hurt his neck. Nick began to appreciate the city now that he was leaving it. He began to think about what he would miss most about living in Zootopia. Would it be his friends, the accessibility of everything, or would it be something else entirely?

To those questions, Nick did not have the answers to. He continued to stare out the window of the car until the buildings began to disappear. Nick held his gaze just long enough to catch the sign stating that they were leaving city limits. At that point, Nick turned his gaze to the floor of the vehicle.

They had been driving for just over two hours now, and the city had long given way to open fields and small patches of trees here and there. The landscape was largely uninteresting, but since there was nothing else to do, Nick continued looking out the window. Nick was half asleep when he noticed that the car was beginning to slow down. Nick shook his head lightly and glanced out the window. They had just taken an exit ramp, but to where, Nick did not know.

The small road they had taken was lined with acres and acres of farmland. They continued down the road for another ten minutes. Nick continued to stare out the window until they passed a sign stating that they were entering a town called 'Bunnyburrow.' Nick had heard this name somewhere before, along with the tidbit that it was the 'bunny capital of Animalia.' Nick raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, dad?" Nick began. David looked at Nick through the rear-view mirror.

"What's up?" David asked.

"Why are we moving to Bunnyburrow?"

"Well, there were a lot of farms up for sale around here, especially grain farms. Since there's a shortage of grain farmers, and we have experience with it, it would benefit the community if we took up farming again here,"

"You are aware that this place's population is like, ninety-five percent bunny, right?" Nick shouted.

"Yes, and?" added Janice.

"Bunnies hate foxes. It's always been that way." David scoffed.

"Come on, Nick. No bunny thinks that way anymore." What David said may have been true for most, but Nick's experiences stated otherwise.

Nick rarely encountered bunnies back in the city, but the few he did encounter usually stared at him with contempt, and some even attempted to engage a fight when Nick told them to buzz off. With such a high concentration of bunnies in Bunnyburrow, he was certain that he would face prejudice against him, but to what ends?

Nick sighed as David pulled the vehicle into the driveway of a particularly plain-looking farmhouse. If Nick's mood wasn't ruined by the location, it was definitely ruined by the house.

* * *

 _I was burnt out from writing for my other story so I wrote something else. Do with it what you will. -Prince._


	2. Chapter 2 - Venture Into Town

The house itself was definitely not a looker. From the road, the two-storey house looked just as every other farmstead did; worn out, wooden siding that was cracked and peeling, and the tin roof was oxidized and faded. The entire structure just looked tired. Nick unbuckled his seat belt and stepped out of the car. The house looked slightly better now that he wasn't looking through the window of the car, but it didn't help with improving his mood. As he approached the house, he saw that all the windows had their curtains drawn, obstructing his view into the house.

Nick turned around as his parents got out of the car. David had a huge smile across his face, while Janice made her way up the porch steps toward the front door. David caught wind of Nick's demeanor and walked over to Nick's side.

"She's not much of a looker, but wait til you see the inside," said David. Nick crossed his arms and scoffed, pacing.

"What, is there gonna yellowed wallpaper and antique furniture as well? Oh, how about a cast-iron footed tub with no shower. Better yet, how about one of those sheet-metal type ones, where you have to bring water in bucket by bucket from the well down yonder?" Nick said bitterly. David let out a little chuckle.

"Quite the active imagination you have there, Nick, but no, nothing like that," David replied. Nick opened his mouth to speak again, but stopped as his father took the lead. David walked up the stairs of the porch as he shoved a paw into his pocket. Nick ran to catch up and saw his father produce a key. Nick stopped to join his mother while David inserted the key into the lock. As he turned the key, he turned to look at Nick and beckoned him over. "Don't judge a book by its cover, Nick, come take a look inside."

Nick rolled his eyes, but stepped forward regardless. As he drew nearer, David pushed the door all the way open, allowing Nick to step inside. As soon as Nick passed through the doorway, he was blasted with a wave of cool air, a heavy contrast from the hot and humid air from outside. What Nick was greeted with upon entry had blown his expectations out of the water. The interior looked brand new, almost as if it was installed yesterday. From the entryway, Nick was able to make out an array of stainless steel appliances, which also looked brand new. Needless to say, the place had the interior of a luxury townhouse.

Nick stood in the entryway, mouth slightly agape with silent shock. The interior was a night and day contrast from the exterior. David and Janice joined Nick in the entryway, David wearing a smug grin on his face. He walked up behind his son and placed both his paws on Nick's shoulders.

"Not as bad as you'd expected, huh? Yup, this place renovated a few years back to increase the chance of someone buying, and lo ad behold, we were those buyers. Everything is modern, only the best for the Wilde clan," said David. Nick sighed.

"Okay, you got me, it's pretty nice. However, this doesn't solve all the other issues I have, such as school, friends, overall accessibility of things," Nick added. David gave an approving nod and walked deeper into the house.

"This place has all the amenities you could ask for. High-speed internet, a land line, TV, decent cell service-" David was cut off mid-sentence by an alert tone coming from his pocket. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. "See?" he added.

David excused himself from the conversation as he unlocked the device. Nick, intrigued, walked over to see what was on the screen. Nick attempted to peer over his father's shoulder, but was unable to get a clear view because David kept moving. Nick eventually gave up and walked back to join his mother. The room was eerily silent save for the keyboard clicks and the air conditioner placed somewhere else in the house. David sighed as he put his phone away.

"That was the movers. They're stuck in gridlock traffic on the four-hundred. Bumper to bumper as far as the eye can see they say. It's safe to say they're gonna be a bit late, but don't worry, they'll be here before dark for sure." Nick rolled his eyes. All of his possessions were in the back of the moving truck, meaning he wouldn't be able to set up his room for at least another few hours. "No matter, we can start unpacking what's already here," David added.

What was going to be the living room was filled with boxes containing miscellaneous items, such as family photos, random trinkets, and other space wasters. The shelving units that housed these items were lined up along the walls of the room. David, Janice, and Nick took a box each and began rummaging through its contents. The box that Nick had chosen contained nothing but old DVDs meant to be placed on the shelves that would go next to the entertainment centre. Janice dragged her box closer to Nick and peered into his box.

"What do you have there, dear?" she asked. Nick glanced into the box again.

"Old movies," he replied. "Do we even have a DVD player anymore?"

"We do. Somewhere," Janice replied. Janice watched as Nick began taking the DVD cases out of their box, looking at each one. When Nick was about halfway done with the box, Janice spoke again. "I saw you trying to sneak a peek at your father's phone, Nick." Nick sighed.

"Yeah, what of it?" he asked. Nick continued to rummage through his box.

"I was thinking that it's probably time that you get a cell phone too," she said hopefully. Nick stopped playing with the DVD cases and looked up at his mother, eyebrows raised.

"Why?" he asked simply. Janice stammered for a moment.

"Well, we're in a new place, and it's gonna be a bit more difficult to know where you are. Especially since everything is so spread apart here. Now, if you had a cell phone, we could just send you a text message and you'd be able to tell us where you were," Janice said. Nick shook his head.

"Mom, it's fine. There's nowhere to go out here, so I'll either be here, or at school. Besides, I always tell you when I go somewhere." Nick thought back to all the times he snuck out of the apartment to share a drink with his friends back in the city. Nick felt the need to smile, but managed to keep a neutral expression.

"Your mother's right, Nick. This place is a lot more spread out than the city. For one thing, I guarantee you will not turn into a shut-in just because you live in the country. You'll make new friends soon enough and you'll want to spend time with them. We'll need to know where you are, and more importantly, if you're safe or not more than ever before. You and I are heading into town on Saturday to pick you up a cell phone," David called from across the room.

"But-"

"No buts, you don't have a say. You are getting a cell phone and that's final." Nick groaned. He returned to the box, which was now empty. Nick picked up a few DVD cases and began placing them on the shelf nearest to where the entertainment centre would go.

Nick continued the cycle of unboxing and shelving for three boxes worth of DVDs, and took him nearly forty-five minutes to finish. Once he was done, Nick sat on the floor and watched as his mother and father slowly put the rest of the room together. This included watching them fill other shelves with objects and hanging picture frames. After half an hour of this, Nick grew bored and incredibly irritated. Janice glanced toward her son after handing David a picture frame and instantly sensed his emotions. She walked over and knelt next to Nick, who was watching his father pound a nail into the wall with utter disinterest.

"Why don't you go outside and have a look around the property, Nick?" Nick looked up at Janice and stared for a few seconds. He took a sharp breath in.

"At least it's something to do," he said blankly. Janice smiled. The two stood up in tandem and Nick stretched. Nick turned around and began walking toward the door. As soon as he closed the door he could feel the heat and humidity begin to creep up on him. It was nearing the evening, so the sun was less intense, but the mugginess of the air ensured it felt just as gross outside as it did when they arrived. Nick attempted to shield himself from the sun with his paws, but it did pretty much nothing, and he could already feel his shirt clinging to his body due to how humid it was.

Nick walked around toward the back of the house. There was a patio set on the deck, as well as a clothesline that hung from the house all the way to a dilapidated wooden shed about forty feet away. A little ways further lay a massive barn, most likely containing farming equipment, and multiple steel grain silos behind it. Nick nodded in approval.

 _He really went all out when he bought this place, huh._ He thought.

Nick rounded the corner and began walking toward the shed. Upon getting closer, the thing was in much worse condition than it appeared. The walls were made of cheap chip-board and have rotted to the point where a decent kick would put a hole clean through it. Deciding against completely decimating the shed, Nick opted to check what was inside. He carefully opened the door, as not to cause the whole thing to collapse. Tiny rays of sunshine peered through holes on the roof, and he was able to see the dust he had disturbed floating around.

Nick stepped into the shed. The ground inside was covered in small shards of wood and tree bark, indicating that it was previously used to store firewood from when the house used to be heated by a woodstove. Nick tread carefully as not to get a splinter in his paw. Besides the wood fragments, the shed was empty. Nick turned around and began heading to the exit when a ray of sunlight reflected off of something in the corner and into his eye. Nick recoiled, rubbing his eyes. After a much more careful glance, Nick made out the shape of a pedal bike in the darkness.

Nick squinted, trying to make out more details of the bike. Nick approached the bike and touched the seat. A sizable layer of dust and wood chips covered his paw where he had touched the bike. He wiped his paw on his shorts and grabbed hold of the handlebars. Nick pulled it way from the wall and wheeled it toward the exit. He slowly pushed the bike through the doorway, trying not to damage the fragile structure. Now outside, Nick saw the bike clearly for the first time.

The bike, to Nick's surprise, was in usable condition. The only thing that seemed to plague the bike was rust, but nothing too major. In addition, the layer of dust made it look worse than it really was. Nick wiped the rest of the dust off the seat, as well as the handlebar grips with his paws. Once he was done, he walked the bike around the house and rested it against the porch steps. He climbed the steps and was greeted by his mother sitting in a chair, looking at him. She looked over his shoulder at the bike, then back to Nick.

"Where'd you find that?" she asked. Nick resisted the urge to shove his paws into his pockets, as they were still covered in dust.

"I found it in the shed in the corner of the yard; the one that the clothesline is connected to," he replied. Janice rose from the wicker chair and greeted Nick at the top of the stairs. Both foxes glanced at the bike. "It's in pretty good condition, and who knows how long it's been there for." Janice took another look at the bike and nodded her head.

"Well, looks like you have yourself a new bike." Janice made her way back to her chair and sat back down. "Hey, why don't you go for a ride around town? The city centre isn't too big, so you won't get lost. Plus, it's a good way to familiarize yourself with the area." Nick pondered his mother's suggestion for a moment.

"Well, it's better than doing nothing I suppose," he said. "I just gotta wash this dust off my paws first," he added. Nick walked past his mother and headed into the house. From the entryway, he walked through the living room and into the kitchen. He stopped in front of the sink and turned the water on. He ran his paws under the faucet for a few seconds before shutting it off and drying them on a nearby dish towel.

Nick glanced into the living room as he made his way back to the door. He saw his father putting the finishing touches on the living room with what he had, as some pieces of furniture were still missing. Nick left the house and walked down the porch to where the bike still lay. Nick picked it up and walked it to the end of the driveway. He looked down the road. The road was long, flat, and straight both ways. To the left, the way they came, there was pretty much nothing. Nothing besides more farmsteads and farmland. To the right, in the distance, was the city centre of Bunnyburrow.

Nick hopped onto the bike. He noticed that the seat was about an inch too high, but that didn't matter too much at the moment. He would have time to work on it by the week's end. He put his paws on the pedals and looked down the road ahead of him. He could see his mother out of the corner of his eye waving at him. She called out to him to be home before dark, and soon afterwards, Nick was off toward the city.

The sensation of riding a bicycle was one that Nick hadn't felt in a long time. The last time he had ridden a bike was when he was just a kit, and his father had insisted that he learn how. He recalled the days in which Nick received the bike as a gift, and how excited he was. He and his father would go down to the parking lot and Nick would ride around in circles for hours upon hours. He remembered the day that his father removed the training wheels, and how many times he had fallen. He and his father practised for days and days until Nick was able to ride around the parking lot just as he did with the training wheels on. It was one of the better memories he had of living in the city.

He eventually grew out of that bike, and his parents got him a new one for Christmas. Nick rode the bike every other day, but as he grew older, he lost interest in biking to video games and spending time with his friends. He didn't remember what his parents did with that bike. All he remembered was that one day, he just stopped riding.

Nick had a reasonable pace going, he spent the first half of the journey finding the best gear settings to go as fast as possible while using the least amount of energy. During this time, he found out that the bike couldn't shift into its highest gear. Nick decided he would take a look at that at a later date. The landscape was incredibly flat, and even more boring to look at. Thankfully, Nick was approaching the city centre, and he wouldn't have to stare at run-down farmhouses and fields upon fields of wheat or some other cash crop.

Upon entering the city centre, Nick immediately noticed something. There wasn't a high-rise building in sight anywhere in the city. Most of the buildings were old brick structures, each one home to a local business of sorts. As he continued down the main street, he couldn't make out a single brand name, save for a few convenience stores and service providers. Nick rode continued down the main street until he encountered a comfortable looking park. Nick changed his course and began to slow down.

Nick stopped the bike at a wooden bench near the back of the park that faced the road. He leaned the bike against the side of the bench and took a seat. Nick sat and watched the cars on the street drive by. He watched as mammals, coincidentally all bunnies, walk the sidewalks in front of the park. Some of them shot quick glances at him, while others blatantly stared at him as they passed. It must've been a rare occasion for a fox to go on bike ride and rest in the park in this town.

Nick placed his paws behind his head and continued to watch the citizens of Bunnyburrow go about their evening. Nick's ears peaked at the sound of rustling grass behind him. He didn't turn around because he assumed that since it was a public park, that it was just someone playing in the open space behind him. What made him jump however, was when he felt a sharp tapping on his left shoulder. Nick stood up and turned around. A group of mammals stood behind the bench, surprisingly enough, none of them were bunnies. Nick performed a quick head count. There were two foxes, a weasel, a coyote, and a wolf. One of the foxes, the larger of the two, extended a paw to Nick.

"Sorry to spook you. My name's Gideon, you must be new in town," he said. Nick shook Gideon's paw and crossed his arms afterwards.

"I'm Nick...how'd you know I was new in town?" Gideon rolled his eyes.

"You don't exactly see too many other mammals who aren't bunnies 'round here, do you?" Gideon replied. Nick glanced back toward the street. He turned back to the group and shook his head.

"No, I guess not." Nick scratched his neck and stared at the grass. "Hey, why'd you approach me right away?" he asked. Gideon took a step closer, almost to make sure that the others wouldn't hear what he was about to say.

"Because mammals like us need to stick together. You see, if you're not a bunny, you don't get treated with the same respect as bunnies do. I don't know what your folks were thinkin' when they dragged you here, they must not've done their research." Nick's eyes narrowed.

"What are you trying to say here?" Nick asked.

"What I'm gettin' at is, since you and I aren't bunnies, we're gonna be facin' some hardships that bunnies don't gotta deal with," Gideon said quietly. Nick began to piece the puzzle together.

"So... the bunnies are discriminatory towards us?" Nick asked. He hoped that what Gideon was telling him wasn't true.

"That's right, Nick," Gideon replied. Nick's heart sank. Gideon put a paw on Nick's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. He let his paw slip off as he went to join the rest of his small group of mammals. "C'mon. Get your bike and walk with us back to my place. I'll introduce you to everyone on the way there." The group began walking deeper into the park. Nick grabbed the bike and walked to catch up with them.

* * *

 _Chapter two complete. Nick encounters Gideon and a group of unnamed mammals and gets invited to Gideon's. Thanks to those who followed/favourited. Opinions & constructive criticism appreciated. For those reading my other story, a chapter is in the works. -Prince_


	3. Chapter 3 - Somewhere I Belong

Nick, along with Gideon and the others, continued through the park until they approached a more thickly-wooded area. One by one, the group of mammals disappeared into the wood on a small, narrow trail. Gideon stayed behind to help Nick get through the thick brush at the beginning of the trail. The group continued for another fifty feet where the trail began to widen, and the group was able to reform. Rays of sunlight peered through the canopy above. Despite being cooler, the shade provided by the trees did nothing for the humidity.

"Right," said Gideon, breaking the silence. "So Nick here is new to town, and we should do all we can to make sure he's comfortable. We'll start by introducing ourselves." The group members seemed to agree unanimously. The smallest of the group, a weasel, squeezed in between Gideon and Nick and offered a paw to shake. Nick glanced down at the weasel. He took a paw off one of the grips of the bike to return the shake.

"Hey, Nick. Welcome to Bunnyburrow. The name's Travis. Like Gid, I've also been here my whole life. Him and I met each other in kindergarten. Being the only two non-bunny mammals there, we formed a kind of mandatory friendship, you know, because we're different from the rest? Anyway, our friendship has only gotten stronger over the years and we always have each others back. Right, Gid?" Travis turned to Gideon, who was watching the path ahead.

"Right," he said. Travis retreated from in between Nick and Gideon. "Next." Nick glanced to his right to see the wolf of the group looking down at him. Compared to the others, he towered over everyone. He wore a plain grey shirt and kept his paws in the pockets of his jeans.

"I'm Aaron, or, 'the tall one.' I moved here when I was about ten." As Aaron was talking, they reached the end of the trail. The trail opened up to what looked like a backyard.

"Alright, we're here." Gideon turned to Nick. "This is my place. We could have taken the street, but I didn't feel like walking through town. I've already received enough glares this summer." The group travelled across the backyard to the porch. One by one, the mammals climbed the stairs to the patio door. Nick leaned his bike against one of the posts and ran up the stairs to catch up to everyone else. When he reached the door, Gideon was waiting there for him, holding the handle of the sliding glass door.

Nick entered the house, followed by Gideon. The patio door led into the dining room. Gideon walked past Nick and hung a right into the kitchen. In there with him, standing at the counter, a fox whom Nick could only assume was Gideon's mother. Gideon opened one of the cabinets and pulled out two glasses. He filled both with water from a nearby water cooler.

"Back so soon, Gid?" asked Gideon's mother. Gideon walked across the kitchen and back into the dining room where Nick was still standing. He handed one of the glasses to Nick before taking a sip from his own. He turned to his mother.

"Yeah, we stumbled across a new arrival." Gideon's mother stopped cutting fruit and turned to the patio. Nick offered a feeble wave. "This is Nick. He just moved here today from Zootopia." Gideon's mother left the counter and entered the dining room.

"Welcome to Bunnyburrow, Nick. I'm Lyn Grey, but you can just call me Lyn. It's nice to meet you!" Lyn smiled. Nick chuckled.

"Thanks, It's nice meeting you as well." Lyn returned to her previous job, allowing for Gideon to take control of the conversation.

"Come into the living room, I find it's much better than sitting in my room in the basement," said Gideon. Nick followed Gideon into the living room, where Travis, Aaron, and the other two unknown mammals were sitting on a brown microfiber sectional couch. Gideon crossed the room and sat in a reclining chair, turning it to face the couch. Nick took the open seat closest to Gideon.

"Right, before I was rudely interrupted, I was about to tell you about how I came to meet Gid and Travis. It was in sixth grade, so I was either eleven or twelve at the time. I was gathering supplies from my locker for our first lesson when a group of rabbits approached me and nearly slammed the locker door on my paw. Of course it was a group, because I'm pretty sure none of them dare come at me solo. They started shouting obscenities at me before Gideon and Travis showed up at my side. I guess the addition of those two at my side scared them off for the time being, and after that, we became friends," said Aaron.

Nick nodded along as Aaron finished his short tale. So far, he's heard half of the group's stories, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for them. Growing up in Zootopia, Nick never had to deal with the fact that he was different. Back in Zootopia, everyone was different, and that's what brought them all together. Sure, some kids may have had their disagreements, but all would be sorted out within a few hours or days. However, in Bunnyburrow, it seemed as if prejudice was part and parcel of daily life for anyone who wasn't a rabbit.

"Well, it's good to meet you, Aaron." Nick looked over Aaron's lithe form. He was definitely taller than most wolves, however he lacked the muscle mass that made most large wolves intimidating. The rays of sunshine coming from the window behind Nick gave Aaron's near-black fur some rather nice looking highlights. Nick smiled. "You remind me of a friend I have back in Zootopia. His name's Adam." added Nick. Aaron beamed. Gideon nodded as Nick and Aaron exchanged paw-shakes. Once the two were done, he glanced at the coyote, whom was sitting at the far end of the couch.

"Right, now Nick, the one at the end of the couch there is Kyle. Kyle was the first one we met out on the street." He turned to Kyle, who had just realized his name had been mentioned. "Kyle, care to introduce yourself to Nick?" he added. Kyle slowly sat up to greet Nick's eyes

"My name's Kyle. I joined this small legion of mammals when they saw me getting heckled by a street vendor. I was attempting to buy myself some lunch, but was told that he won't cater 'filth' like myself. Apparently, our yelling could be heard far enough down the street to the point where these three showed up." Kyle pointed toward Gideon, Travis, and Aaron. "They joined into the whole debacle and after five gruelling minutes of non stop shouting from them and the vendor, the vendor agreed to serve me. I think he did it solely to get me to go away. In addition, they didn't have to do that for me, I was getting ready to leave once they arrived."

"Hey, none of that, Kyle," shouted Gideon from his recliner. "Us predators gotta stick together in this town. We're so far and few in between that everyone thinks it's okay to discriminate against us," he added. Gideon turned to Nick. "This town is ninety-five percent bunny. Another four percent are prey mammals, leaving us to be the one percent. Grouping up to support each other is necessary for our well-being." Nick nodded along, though slightly confused why Gideon was suddenly bringing up the population composition.

"Oh, quiet, Gid. Don't bore the new blood to death with your percentages," said a new voice. The last one in the group, the third fox, leaned forward. He was chewing on a toothpick and had his arms behind his head. His silvery-grey fur contrasted heavily from the brown couch, as well as the near-black fur that belonged to Aaron, whom was sitting to his right. He rose from the couch and walked over to where Nick was sitting, arm outstretched. Nick shook his paw before the silver-grey fox took a seat in the corner section of the couch between Nick and Aaron.

"The name's Skylar. Now, I didn't meet these guys the in the same 'they came my rescue' fashion. Nuh-uh. The first one I met was Travis. From what I remember, he was in detention for selling illegal soft drinks to students before one of his buyers ratted him out to the principal. Just a heads up, if you do end up going to Raleigh Jack Secondary, the principal there hates anyone who isn't a rabbit. He hates preds the most, but he still goes down hard on prey mammals. I'm willing to bet that if it was a rabbit selling sodie-pops to kids, he'd just send them out with a slap on the wrist and a lollipop, but I digress." Nick raised an eyebrow. To him, so far, Skylar was the most interesting. He was more intimidating than he looked, as he was rather small for a vulpine.

"Getting back to detention, I can tell ya, I definitely deserved it for what I did. Ya see, this one bunny who thinks he's the shit kept trying to get me suspended by writing my name on the mirror in the washroom. I told the staff about it, and of course they did fuck all because he's their lapdog, a total angel in their eyes. One day, I caught this little fuckface defacing the mirror again in the same fashion, by writing my name. He threw the marker at me on sight and made a mad dash for it. Rabbits are fast, but not fast enough for me to jump-tackle him onto the ground and lay a few punches into his face and chest."

Nick's eyes widened. Skylar was making out to be quite the violent fox. He was beginning to question whether he was hanging out with the right crowd when Gideon pulled him aside.

"I know what you're thinking, Nick. Skylar isn't as violent as he's making himself seem. From what I could gather, he did what he did because this specific bunny has been taunting him for years. I guess this whole vandalism thing was the final straw for him" Nick began to understand the reasoning behind Skylar's actions. If he had been taunted for years by the same mammal, he'd want some form of revenge as well. Maybe not in the form of a severe beating in the boys washroom, but something with a little more cunning.

"Regardless, I was given a months detention, and that's where I met Travis. He and I talked after our hour was up, and he took me to meet the others. These guys have been a great influence on me, and they made me feel accepted." Skylar slapped Nick on the back, causing Nick to yelp in surprise. "Trust me, Nick. These guys make life in Bunnyburrow bearable for me," concluded Skylar.

Nick, having been acquainted with the entire group, felt a little more comfortable to be in their presence. However, Nick didn't know how to continue the conversation. Slightly panicked, he glanced over to Gideon, hoping he would take the spotlight off of him. Gideon reached into his pocket and pulled out what looked like a cell phone and began swiping and tapping away at the screen. After a few seconds of this, he looked up toward Nick.

"Gimme your number, so we can keep talking," Gideon demanded. Nick left Gideon's gaze and scratched his neck.

"I, uh, don't have a number. I don't even have a phone," Nick replied sheepishly. Gideon raised an eyebrow.

"You're kidding, right? Since you're from the city I was certain you'd have one." Nick shook his head.

"Nope. Never felt the need to have one. Sure it would be convenient, but back in the city, I would always see mammals with their faces glued to their devices while I passed them on the sidewalk. I told myself that I wouldn't be like them, and when my parents offered, I declined." Gideon nodded. He understood where Nick was coming from, having seen similar sights while at school. "Don't fret, my parents have put their paw down and they're forcing me to get one this weekend," Nick added.

"Right. Once that happens, it'll make communication outside of face-to-face conversation possible," replied Gideon, returning the device to his pocket.

"Oh, don't think I don't use social media, because I do. Just look up my name, I'm there. I never used it much, because I would always just go visit my friends in person, but since that's less possible now, I'll be required to use it to talk to them any time soon." Gideon looked back up at Nick, followed by the rest of the group.

In unison, save for Nick, they all reached into their pockets, pulling out phones of all shapes, sizes, and colours. Nick rolled his eyes. For the next thirty seconds, they all scrolled through social media in search of Nick's profile. The first one to look up from the device was Aaron. He turned the device to Nick. On the display was a profile page bearing Nick's name, and a picture of him that was taken three years prior. The picture was taken by one of his friends when they were on the roof of his old apartment building.

"This it?" asked Aaron. Nick nodded. Aaron rose from the couch and showed each of the group members the correct profile to add. Once the whole social media fiasco ended, the group returned to sitting silently. Nick glanced out the window behind the couch. The sun had gotten significantly lower in the sky, and the familiar late-evening shadows had made their return. Nick returned to the group.

"What time is it?" Nick asked. Gideon glanced at the clock that was hung on the wall out of Nick's view. Gideon squinted as he read the face.

"It's five-thirty," Gideon replied.

"I should probably get going then. They didn't tell me what time to be back, but I'm pretty sure my parents don't want me to miss our first dinner in the new house," Nick said. Gideon's expression fell, but he didn't protest.

"Alright, then. I'll guide you back through the wood. It's faster, plus you avoid the neighbourhoods," said Gideon. Gideon rose from his recliner and began heading toward the patio door. Nick got up from the couch and joined him Gideon stopped in the archway between the living room and dining room and turned to face the other four. "You guys okay here until I get back?" he asked. They all nodded together.

Gideon told his mother where he was going before he and Nick stepped out onto the deck. They walked down the stairs, stopping so Nick could get his bike, and starting again as they head into the bush. The walk back felt faster than the walk there, possibly because it was only the two of them. Nick and Gideon emerged at the back of the park where they had met hours prior. Gideon walked with Nick to the street.

"Well, get back to us online as quick as you can," said Gideon.

"Will do. I'll see you 'round, hopefully," Nick replied. Gideon smiled.

"I hope so too. Bye, Nick." Gideon waved as Nick set off down the main road.

The ride back through town bared much of the same result as before; glares from some of the rabbits traversing the sidewalks and from the cars that passed. The staring ceased as Nick left the city centre. From there, it was just a peaceful bike ride down a long, straight stretch of road back to his house.

After biking the rest of the way down the road and pulling into his driveway, Nick leaned the bike against the side of the house. He walked up the stairs onto the porch and entered the house. As Nick opened the door, he was hit with a familiar scent. The scent of his all-time favourite meal; fish and chips.

Nick entered the dining room to see his mother and father about to sit down and enjoy their freshly cooked meal. Their faces lit up as their son took his seat across from them.

"Hey there, son. Didn't expect to see ya home so soon," said David. Nick chuckled.

"Hey, I'm not about to miss our first meal here, especially now that I know what it is," Nick replied, filling his plate. The family ate their dinner in silence for the first five minutes, simply enjoying each others company and the many flavours the meal provided.

"Did you meet anyone, Nick?" asked Janice. Nick looked up from his now empty plate and nodded.

"Yeah, I met five mammals at the park, or rather, they met me," Janice smiled.

"What are their names?" Nick thought back to when each of the group members introduced themselves. Besides being all predatory mammals, the group was quite diverse personality-wise.

"There's Gideon, there's Aaron, there's Skylar..." Nick thought harder as he tried to remember those whose introductory stories were less captivating. "Travis... and there's Kyle," Nick concluded.

"They all sound like wonderful mammals," Janice replied. Nick left the table and brought his plate to the sink so he could wash it. As Nick started the faucet, his father called from the dining room.

"No need for that, Nick." David entered the kitchen holding his own empty plate. He passed Nick and stopped in front of what was obviously a dishwasher. "We are now the proud owners of a dishwasher." Nick rolled his eyes and smiled.

"Less work for me," he said as he and his father placed the dirty plates into the dishwasher. Nick began heading for his room upstairs, but stopped before he reached the staircase.

"No need to worry, son. The movers were here with our stuff. Them and I placed all your stuff in your room, all you have to do is arrange it," said David from behind him.

"Sweet." Nick began heading up the stairs but stopped halfway up. "Hey mom, do you know what school I'm going to?" Nick called.

"A place called R.J. Secondary," his mother called back from the dining room. Nick could only assume the R.J. stood for Raleigh Jack. Nick sprinted up the rest of the stairs.

Nick entered his room to see that, like his father had said, everything was there. His bed was reassembled, and the dresser was placed against the wall adjacent to his bed. His desk held the boxes to his computer and video games. All Nick had to do was set everything up once again. Nick opened the first box and got to work.

After a gruelling thirty minutes of setup, and another fifteen taking care of cable management, his computer setup was returned to its former glory. Nick powered on the tower and watched as the whole rig came to life. Five minutes later and he was ready to use the computer for the first time since he moved.

The first thing Nick did was check his social media, and sure enough, he had five new friend requests, all from the group of mammal he had just met. He accepted all of them. Moments later, he was added to a group chat.

 _Gideon Grey: Good. You're online. Now we can all talk._

 _Aaron Fenrir: Did you find out what school you're going to?_

Nick typed out his response.

 _Yeah, I'm going to Raleigh Jack. My mother confirmed it with me about an hour ago._

 _Skylar DeLuca: Sweet._

 _Gideon Grey: We'll see you tomorrow, then._

Nick smiled. Making new friends had been easier than he anticipated. He was expecting it to take days, or not happen at all, but his expectations were crushed by the day's events. Nick, along with the rest of the group, chatted the evening away.

* * *

 _Another chapter done. This story gained traction faster than I expected. I hope all you newcomers enjoyed this new update. As always, review, criticize to your heart's content. Next chapter is in the works. -Prince_


	4. Chapter 4 - The Echoes of Strangers

Nick awoke with a start. A loud knocking was reverberating throughout the bedroom. Nick sat up against the headboard, momentarily confused as to where he was. It took a few seconds, but Nick remembered that he had just moved houses, and that he would have to get used to the new space. He scanned the room; the sight of familiar objects slowly calmed his beating heart as well as his conscience. Nick turned to his left and stepped out of bed. The knocking continued. He deduced that it was either his mother or his father doing the knocking.

"Alright, alright, I'm awake. You can stop knocking now," Nick shouted over the knocking. A second passed and the knocking stopped. A second later, the doorknob turned and Nick's mother, Janice, walked in. She bore a wide grin, another thing familiar to Nick. Janice approached Nick, arms wide open, and embraced the young fox. As Nick struggled to breathe, he wrapped his arms around his mother, to return the hug, as well as to notify her that she was suffocating her son.

"Aren't you excited about going to a new school, Nick?" she asked, releasing Nick from the embrace. Nick regained his posture and took a few breaths. He thought of what little he knew about the school, as well as the students he would encounter. He knew that the student population would mostly consist of bunnies. That combined with the few, albeit impactful encounters with bunnies in the past, Nick wasn't very hopeful for an outstanding experience. On the other side, Nick remembered the small, tight knit group of friends he had met the day before. This gave Nick some reassurance.

"As excited as I could ever be, Mom," Nick replied. Janice gave a light chuckle and made her way to the door. Nick began fishing through his drawers for an outfit to wear. Nick wasn't one to dress flashy, and Nick didn't see the first day of school as any reason to overdress. He decided on a simple white branded tee, as well as a pair of salt-and-pepper jogging pants. With his clothes nestled into his arm, he turned to head out of the room. He was surprised to see his mother standing just outside the door in the hallway.

"I'll be able to give you a ride to school today, but you'll have to get yourself there the rest of the week, alright?" said Janice. Nick was confused as to why this couldn't have waited until after he was done his shower, but he wasn't awake enough at that time to ask. Nick simply nodded yes and walked past his mother. He walked down the hall until he reached the door to the washroom.

Nick entered the room and closed the door behind him, locking it. He placed his change of clothes on the counter and turned on the water. Nick ran his paw under the water to check the temperature, making sure it was to his liking. After choosing just the right temperature, he removed yesterday's clothes and stepped under the water, closing the glass door behind him.

Nick sighed as the water poured over him. Nick leaned against the glass walls of the shower and allowed the warm water to soak through his fur and into the skin underneath. Once he was sufficiently wet, he grabbed a bottle of soap and poured a small dollop into his paw. He scrubbed the soap into his fur, being cautious as not to miss any spots. He stepped under the shower head once more to clear the soap away.

Nick stood under the shower head for another five minutes, simply basking in the warmth the water provided. Nick had taken a liking to the new shower. As he realized that thought, he remembered that he didn't have the time to stay in any longer. In an attempt to wake himself up further, he reached for the faucet and flipped it in the opposite direction. The hot water turned cold, causing Nick to wince. Regardless, Nick still stood, allowing the chilly water to rain down on him. After thirty seconds, Nick turned the water off. Now awake and shivering, Nick exited the the shower and reached for the towel he had set aside for himself. He dried his fur and put on his clean clothes.

Nick exited the washroom and began walking down the hall. As he was about to enter his room, he heard his mother call from downstairs. Nick couldn't make out what she was saying, so he ignored her and entered his room. He placed his clothes into his laundry basket and began stuffing various school supplies into his bag. Since it was his final year, Nick felt he needed very little supplies. He opted to use last year's as not to waste any money on new things. He had but a binder and a few pens to his name. He closed the bag and threw it onto his back. As he made his way to the door, he glanced down at his alarm clock, the one he had forgotten to set the night before.

Nick turned to the door as he heard someone coming up the steps. His mother appeared in his doorway wearing a slightly annoyed expression. Nick glanced back down at the clock, the time was eight A.M. He looked back toward his mother, who had now crossed her arms.

"You don't want to be late on your first day, do you?" she asked sternly. Nick raised an eyebrow.

"No, but classes don't start until nine. Why are you so worried?" Nick replied.

"I want you to have a chance to mingle before you have to go to class, Nick. And don't you have that group that you met yesterday as well? You wouldn't want to keep them waiting, wouldn't you?"

Nick shook his head in agreement.

"I suppose not. It would be kind of rude to show up late on the first day. Plus, they said they'd meet me there before classes," Nick said quietly. Janice nodded and motioned for him to get going. Nick obliged. He followed his mother down the stairs and through the ground floor of the farmstead. As the two foxes stepped outside, Nick was greeted with the familiar sight of the morning sun. The way the shadows were cast during the morning gave off a different aura than the once cast in the evening. Nick felt as if the morning shadows had a more harsh feeling to them when compared to the more calming feeling of evening shadows.

Nick and Janice entered the family car. Janice started the engine as Nick buckled his seat belt. Janice shifted the car into reverse and left the driveway. Nick glanced at the farmstead from the passenger side window. He held his stare until the house was out of sight. Nick returned to staring out the front window. Nick didn't know where the school building was, he hadn't seen it the day before, and if he did, he didn't remember where it was. Nick became lost in thought as he watched the fields pass by.

The fields turned into houses as they entered the town centre. Nick shifted his focus onto the yellow line in the middle of the road. A sudden jerk of his shoulder shook him out of his daze. He followed the arm back to his mother, who was smiling.

"We're here," she said. Nick glanced out the passenger window. A two storey brick structure stood in front of him. The building was largely unremarkable, and traces of green, white, and gold could be spotted through some of the windows. Nick reached for his backpack in the back seat. When he returned to the front seat, Janice had pulled Nick into another hug. "Have a good day, dear," she said. Nick weaselled out of his mothers arms and smiled back at her.

"Alright, see you after." Nick closed the door and began walking toward the building. He heard the sound of the window being rolled down, causing him to stop.

"I won't be able to pick you up after school, so you'll have to walk yourself home. If you're gonna be out, be home before dark," Janice shouted. Nick looked over his shoulder.

"Got it. Thanks." Nick walked down the asphalt into the school's front courtyard. As Nick drew nearer to the building, he began to feel as if he was being watched. Nick continued walking, glancing left and right. Everywhere he looked, there were at least five bunnies either talking amongst each other or staring back at him. Nick's pace began to slow as more eyes fell on him. Nick inhaled slowly and tried to ignore them, but he began to hear snippets of muffled conversations.

 _Who's that? What's he doing here? What's with the fox? Another one? When did he get here? You think he can hear us? Why would they allow someone like him into the school, we have enough preds as it is..._

Some comments hurt more than others, but Nick was able to keep a straight face. If Nick was good at one thing, it was making sure that he never showed anyone that they were getting to him. Nick tightened his grip on the straps of his backpack and continued walking.

"Hey! Over here!" Nick looked up to see who was shouting. He turned his head toward a group of tables. The area was empty save for a group of five mammals. Nick squinted in an attempt to get a better picture. One of them was waving their arms back and forth. Nick changed course and began walking toward the group. Once he was closer, he recognized them as the group of predators he had met the day before. He ran toward the group.

Gideon had stopped waving his arms once Nick had gotten close enough. Nick's mood improved greatly once he saw some familiar faces. Gideon took a chair from one of the empty tables behind him and placed it at the table. He offered Nick the seat. Nick walked around the table and sat down. He glanced around the table. The eyes of Gideon, Travis, Aaron, Skylar, and Kyle all stared back at him, and all five of them were smiling. Nick couldn't help but smile as well.

"Glad to see you're here early as well. I thought you would have turned up later," said Gideon. Nick shrugged his shoulders and looked down at the wooden surface of the table.

"I would have showed later, but my mother insisted I be here early for the first day," Nick replied. He continued to stare downward, the whispers of conversation he had heard a few minutes earlier still fresh in his mind. Nick sighed quietly so the others wouldn't hear. The five others shuffled in their seats; some glanced around the courtyard, others kept their eyes on Nick. Among those watching Nick was Aaron.

"How are you liking R.J. High so far?" he asked, placing a paw on Nick's shoulder. Nick jumped from the sudden contact. He whipped his head around to see what had touched him. After seeing that it was only Aaron, he calmed down. He hesitated.

"Uh, isn't it a bit early to form an opinion? I mean, I only just got here," Nick replied. Aaron nodded.

"I guess that's true. I'll ask again at the end of the week." Nick returned to staring at the table. While he was looking away, Nick kept his ears open and listened to the other group members. Skylar and Travis were conversing, Kyle was tapping away on his smartphone, and Aaron was drumming his claws on the surface of the table. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Aaron watching the school buses pass, stopping to drop off students, and then leaving.

"You alright, Nick?" said Gideon, the one unaccounted for. Nick glanced up toward the other fox, keeping the same neutral expression he had held since he sat down.

"Yeah, why?" Nick asked. Gideon shook his head.

"Well, when you were walking down the pathway, I could see the other kids giving you some pretty nasty stares there. Just don't dwell on it too much, it doesn't mean anything anyway," replied Gideon. Nick thought over Gideon's statement. Now that Gideon had brought it to his attention, he was finding himself thinking about the way those bunnies were staring at him, as well as what he heard them say. He also observed that that was the cause of the sudden slump in his mood. Nick inhaled sharply then cleared his throat.

"I know. I suppose I'll adjust over time." Gideon smiled and patted Nick on the shoulder.

"Right," he replied. Nick, now feeling a little better, was in the mood to talk again. Nick glanced back at the other side of the courtyard, which was beginning to get even more full with bunnies. He watched as some entered the school building.

"Hey, I have a quick question," Nick said. Nick didn't get an immediate response; everyone else was discussing what Nick could only assume was a show that he didn't watch. Nick waited for their conversation to end, which took longer than he expected. After about five more minutes of borderline shouting matches, everyone finally quieted down enough for Nick to speak up again.

"What did you want to know?" replied Gideon. Nick took one last quick glance at the steady stream of bunnies entering the school grounds before returning to Gideon.

"Are there any other predators here, or non-bunnies even?" Nick asked. Gideon thought for a moment, turning away from Nick as he did such. While Gideon was looking away, Nick glanced over at the other four. None of them offered an answer.

"Yeah. The school is about ninety-five percent bunny. The other five percent is divided evenly between other prey mammals and predators. Come to think of it, we're the only predators in our year. The other grades have their own populations of between five to fifteen preds, as well as prey mammals. They've all formed groups similar to ours within their respective years, so we don't interact with them as much as we interact with each other. Don't think we avoid each other entirely, though, because we do talk." Nick nodded as Gideon finished his sentence. Nick had thought of another question.

"Do you talk with any of the bunnies?" Nick asked. Gideon nodded again.

"Yeah. Despite what you think, they're not all rude to us, we have a few bunnies in our year that we talk to. I can't remember any of their names off the top of my head, but I'm sure we'll run into them later. Same thing goes for prey mammals. Other than those select few, the majority of them just steer clear of us. The final few of them are the ones that cause problems with us. For example, the rabbit that was tormenting Skylar," Gideon concluded. At the sound of his name, Skylar paused the conversation he was having and turned to Gideon and Nick.

"What about me?" Skylar asked.

"What was the name of the rabbit who was bugging you?" Almost instantly, Skylar responded.

"His name was Jack. Complete tool. Avoid at all costs. If I see him and you're with me, I'll point him out to you," Skylar said to Nick. Nick smiled and chuckled lightly.

"Alright, you do that." A loud ringing could be heard echoing through the air. Gideon's ears peaked as he looked toward the source of the noise. He stood up from his chair.

"Come on, that's the bell. We gotta get going, don't want to be late for orientation," said the fox. All at once, everyone else rose from their seats and followed Gideon as he walked toward the front entrance. The six mammals walked across the grass and joined the mass of bunnies who also began crowding around the door. The crowd slowly shuffled through the sets of doors into the main foyer. Nick kept his eyes on Aaron, as he was the tallest one in the group.

The group made their way down the hall toward another set of double doors, of which led into what Nick could only assume was the gym. After a little bit of shoving, Nick squeezed his way through the doors into the gym. The cinder block walls were painted a solid white, accompanied by two large green and gold stripes. Nick followed the group away from the main pack and up one of the sets of bleachers. All six of the mammals sat down at the very top of the bleachers. Nick watched as the rows below his began to fill with other students.

As all the sets of bleachers filled up, and the flow of students coming through the single set of double doors began to slow, Nick turned his attention to the front of the gym, where there was a single microphone, one pair of speakers, and an A/V cart set up. Lined up against the back wall was a group of about thirty mammals, all of which were rabbits. Standing to the left of the microphone were two more rabbits; an older looking rabbit with white fur, a younger female rabbit, and a scruffy looking lynx.

The older looking rabbit slowly approached the microphone as the last of the students entered the gym. He tapped the microphone, causing a tapping sound to bellow from the speakers. Satisfied, the rabbit removed the microphone from its stand and held it to his face.

"Good morning, students, and welcome to your first day at Raleigh Jack High School." The rabbits voice was deep and gruff, almost intimidating. "I am your principal, Mr. Elvistead. I have been the principal of this school for nearly twenty years. As I look through the crowd in front of me, I see plenty of new faces. This is good, as you students are what keeps this school alive. I don't want to waste too much of your time." Gideon nudged Nick in the ribs.

"Mr. Elvistead hates predators. I wish I could put it any other way, but I just can't. I advise you to avoid him as best you can, because he'll slap you with a detention or some other punishment for any little thing," Gideon said. Nick's eyes narrowed to get a better view of the old rabbit. He shook his head before turning to Gideon.

"Why is he like this? What have we ever done to him?" Nick asked. Gideon shrugged his shoulders.

"That doesn't have an easy answer, but my theory is that it's because that's how he was raised. Can't you see how old he is? Just a side note, a majority of the teachers have been here as long as he has." He pointed at the row of thirty bunnies behind the principal. "They all share his point of view." Nick sighed/

"That concludes my small speech. I will now hand over the microphone to your Student President, elected by returning students last year before your break. I ask you to please give a warm welcome to President Judy Hopps."

* * *

 _I wanted to give you something as I've been absent for nearly a month. I've been a bit preoccupied spending my summer with friends and family. I hope this can hold you over. I did have a bit of fun with this one. Also, I'm sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger of sorts, but I just wanted to make sure there was at least something from me, as opposed to radio silence. As always, thanks for reading. -Prince_


	5. Chapter 5 - Outlier

The majority of the students gave a round of applause as Judy swapped spots with the old principal. Nick glanced toward Gideon awaiting some sort of input from him, but he remained silent and stared down toward the gym floor. Judy fiddled with the microphone stand and adjusted it to her height. From where Nick was sitting, not much could be made out besides the fact that she had purple eyes and a more gentle expression than Mr. Elvistead. The clapping eventually died down allowing Judy to speak.

"Good morning!" Judy said cheerily into the microphone. A few of the students from the crowd replied to her sentiment. "Oh, come on, what was that? I said good morning!" Judy shouted again. This time, a larger portion of the students replied. "Better. I'm so glad to see so many turn up on the first day."

Nick watched as Judy continued her little introduction. Her tone was much more upbeat than the older bunny and was much easier on the ears. To him, Judy seemed different than any of the other students. Perhaps it was because she was in a position of power, but Nick knew that he would have an easier time dealing with Judy than any of the other bunnies in the school.

"Well ain't she just a ray of sunshine. She's already doing a better job than Isabelle." Gideon said. This brought Nick back to his senses.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Nick replied. Gideon shifted in his seat and crossed his arms.

"Isabelle was last year's President. It's safe to say she was the worst President the school's ever seen. She never did her job, but nobody dared to replace her because of how much power she held. She'd be able to ruin your life in the span of a day. If anyone spoke out against her, she'd send her friends to scour every social media website on the planet for dirt on you. Once they'd found it, it would make its rounds," Gideon explained. Nick's eyes widened and he stared Gideon in the eyes.

"How did she get away with that? The staff didn't do anything?" Nick asked, still alarmed at what he'd just heard.

"They could have done lots, but chose to do nothing. Isabelle was very openly anti-predator. They kept her in because a lot of the school's faculty shared her view," Gideon said. He sighed and leaned against the wall behind him. Nick furrowed his brows.

"Unbelievable," Nick replied. Gideon nodded.

"Yup. The Hopps clan is notorious for being prejudiced toward predators, especially foxes. Isabelle was Judy's older sister. Lets hope that this Hopps is better than the last one," Gideon added. Nick considered Gideon's words.

"Hope is all we can do, I suppose," Nick added. During the time he spent talking with Gideon, he had missed a good chunk of what Judy was saying. Nick turned his attention back to the front of the gym where Judy was still addressing the the students. Most of what she was saying was about par for the course for any student President. Nick didn't really start listening until she mentioned something about class schedules. Nick leaned in closer to hear what she had to say.

"Finally, with every new year comes a mountain of scheduling issues. Anyone who is having these issues can either see the guidance counsellor or myself after the assembly. Regardless, that about wraps everything up. Start making your way to your homeroom class. In approximately one month we will have our first spirit day, so be sure to mark that on your calendars," concluded Judy.

With the end of her speech came the sound of hundreds of mammals all rising from their seats and making their way to the gym floor. As the wave of students began heading for the door, the teachers made sure to head out quickly before they became stuck in the crowd.

Nick grabbed his stuff and followed everyone else down the steps of the bleachers toward the door. When they reached the gym floor, he felt someone tapping him on the shoulder. Nick turned around to see who it was, but was forced to look up as he was met with the mammal's torso. Nick looked up to see Aaron towering over him, offering a friendly smile.

"What classes do you have?" he asked as they both passed through the doorway.

"I don't know, I never got my schedule. Do we get it in homeroom or something?" Nick replied as he tried not to bump into anyone. Aaron raised an eyebrow.

"You mean you didn't get it in the mail?" asked Aaron. He pondered for a moment. Nick opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by Aaron. "That's right, you kind of just moved here. They probably sent your schedule to your old place." Nick groaned.

"You're probably right. So, what then? Do I just go ask for a new one?" Nick asked. Aaron shrugged his shoulders.

"You could probably just ask the guidance counsellor to print one for you." Nick nodded.

"And where would I get that done?" he asked.

"His office is in the library. Better be quick though, it's about to be full of bunnies wanting things changed," Aaron replied, pointing out the crowd of bunnies they were currently in. Nick gasped.

"Crap!" Nick yelled. He began trying to advance through the crowd, dodging and weaving between rows and rows of bunnies. Once he reached the end of the hallway, he turned back to face Aaron, who had barely moved forward a foot. "See you at lunch?" Nick called. Once Aaron nodded yes, he disappeared down the hallway that led toward the main entrance.

The library was right off the front foyer, making the trip a short one. Nick entered the library to see a small crowd of bunnies lined up at the guidance counsellor's door. Nick groaned again and took his place at the back of the line. He looked around the room and noticed the absence of a key part of a library; the books and bookshelves. The 'library' had no bookshelves, but a bunch of computers lining the walls, and the centre was filled with a long table.

The line was moving at a decent pace and Nick was approaching the front. To his right, the library entrance opened. The bunny who entered closed the door behind her and made her way to the first open computer in the row. Nick watched as she logged into the computer and loaded into the web browser.

"I can help someone over here." said the bunny. Nick glanced at the clock on the wall above the door. It was nearing nine o'clock, the time when first period was supposed to start. In an instant, Nick stepped out of the line and walked swiftly over toward the bunny at the computer. Before he realized what he had done, the bunny had already pulled out the chair next to hers and was telling Nick to sit down.

"I won't bite," said the bunny sarcastically. Nick eventually sat down in the chair that was just a bit too small for him. The bunny turned to face Nick. "In case you missed it, I'm Judy Hopps. I'm the student President for this year. What's your name?" she asked cheerily, her violet eyes twinkling in the light. Nick pulled himself out of whatever daze he was in and answered Judy.

"Nick, nice to meet you." he replied. Judy smiled.

"It's nice to meet you too, Nick. What do you need?" Judy asked, turning to face her computer.

"Well, I never got my schedule. Was I supposed to get that in the mail?" Nick asked. Judy didn't answer. She began tapping away at the keyboard for a few seconds before she turned back to look at Nick.

"You were supposed to get it in the mail, but oh well, things happen. What's your last name?" Judy asked. Nick raised an eyebrow.

"Why do you need that?" he asked, skeptical. Judy returned to the computer.

"Well, I'm willing to bet there's more than one Nick in the school, so to make things easier on me, I'll need your last name," she replied.

"It's Wilde," Nick said. Judy typed his last name into the field and hit enter, bringing her to a new page. Judy read over the page.

"Oh! You're Nicholas Wilde, the transfer from Zootopia! How did I miss that?" Judy asked herself. Nick didn't answer. With a few clicks, the printer to Judy's left roared to life. Judy rose from her seat to fetch the paper that had just emerged from the printer. She walked back over to the computer and handed the paper to Nick.

"Thanks," Nick said. Judy beamed.

"No problem. What brings you to Bunnyburrow anyway? Judy asked. Nick got up from his seat and scratched his neck.

"Oh, my parents wanted to get out of the city," Nick replied. He checked the clock above the wall once more. "I gotta go, I'm gonna be late."

"Yeah. Hey, have a good semester," Judy said as Nick began walking away. Her comment made Nick stop in his tracks. He turned around to face Judy.

"Thanks I guess, you too," he replied, turning away. He began heading toward the library's exit. Once in the hall, he read over his schedule.

 _First period, English. Second, spare. Third, Math. Fourth, Fitness. Period one is Room 203, which is probably on the second floor._

Nick began walking down the hall toward one of the school's staircases. The hallways were painted a glorious green and gold to match the school colours. Nick climbed the flights of stairs and was met with another set or doors. He pulled the door open and directly to his right was his classroom; Room 203. Nick headed in the direction of the door and as he was walking through, he saw the door flying toward him out of the corner of his eye. Acting quickly, he extended his arm to catch the door before it could hit him.

He looked around to see what had caused the door to fly at him. Behind it, a rabbit holding a stack of papers. The doe, who Nick could only assume was the teacher, stared bitterly toward him. He was still holding the door about six inches from his body. Nick offered a weak smile, but the doe's icy glare wiped his face of any joy, real or fake.

"Name?" she shouted, causing Nick as well as some of the students in the class to wince. Nick hesitated.

"Nick," he replied. The rabbit's expression didn't improve. Without saying a word, she motioned for Nick to enter the classroom. As he walked through the doorway, the school's digital bell rang, indicating that classes had begun.

"Almost late on the first day? How disrespectful," said the teacher. Nick raised an eyebrow.

"My apologies. You see, there was this whole thing-" Nick began. He attempted to explain his near-tardiness, but was interrupted by the teacher.

"Quiet! Take your seat." she shouted, pointing toward an empty desk near the back of the room. Nick said nothing more to her and rolled his eyes as soon as he knew she couldn't see them. Nick marched down the column until he reached the empty seat. He plopped his bag down next to the chair and sat down. Nick scanned the room from his new position. He was surrounded by bunnies, save for the token coyote to his right. Nick reached out and tapped the coyote's shoulder.

"Kyle?" Nick whispered. The coyote turned his head, confirming Nick's suspicions.

"Hey. I watched that whole thing. It was pretty brutal, but that's just the kind of teacher Mrs. Toby is," said Kyle. Nick nodded. Both mammals turned their heads to the front of the room when they heard Mrs. Toby begin attendance.

"She's always this rude?" Nick whispered. Kyle nodded but did not make eye contact.

"Yeah. I had her for Grade Nine English and it was the same way. Only difference was that she singled me out. This year, she'll most likely be picking on the both of us. My recommendation is that you keep your mouth shut unless she speaks to you," whispered Kyle.

"Gotcha," replied Nick.

"Isn't that right, Mr. Wilde?" came a voice from the front. Nick froze and his eyes widened. While he was talking to Kyle, Mrs. Toby was addressing the class. Nick scrambled to come up with a response.

"Er, to what am I agreeing to?" Nick asked. A few students laughed, including Kyle. Mrs. Toby only grew angrier. She lifted her nose, staring at him through the eyeglasses perched near the tip.

"If you had been listening, you would know what we are discussing. For your behaviour, you will serve a twenty minute lunch detention, is that clear?" said Mrs. Toby. Nick said nothing and nodded. "Good. Detentions are held in Room 130 and you will be there at eleven-thirty." Nick slumped in his seat and stared down at the wooded texture of the desk. Not ten minutes into his first day and he had already earned himself a detention.

Mrs. Toby walked through the rows of desks, passing out the course syllabus to each student. After going over both sides of the paper, they were assigned their first assignment: an essay on their expectations for the class. Each student worked quietly at their desk, brainstorming ideas for their papers. Near the end of class, Mrs. Toby called the attention of all the students.

"Tomorrow we will be working in the library. You will have until Monday to complete your essays. That gives you two more classes and a weekend. There are only ten minutes left until period two begins, so take this time to either continue working on your assignment, or to mingle with your classmates."

Most of the students chose the latter option and volume levels began rising as students began to hold conversations with each other. Nick and Kyle remained seated at their desks.

"I don't think you deserved a detention, Nick," said Kyle. Nick turned to face the coyote.

"I might be biased, but neither do I," he replied. Kyle turned in his seat to face Nick.

"From my experience as an observer she usually goes with a 'three strikes' brand of discipline, but she just gave you a detention right off the bat." Nick leaned back in his chair, arms crossed.

"Yeah, I noticed. I'm willing to bet if it were anyone else, she would have let them off with a warning. But since I'm a fox, she wanted to go straight for the detention," Nick replied.

"Yup, that's how things around here go for us. They pick on us because we're different. If it makes you feel any better, I've gotten plenty of detentions from Mrs. Toby." Nick smiled and placed a paw on Kyle's shoulder.

"You know Kyle, it doesn't," Nick replied. Kyle sighed. As Nick retracted his paw the digital bell rang. Mrs. Toby dismissed the class and all the students began making their way to the door.

"What do you have next?" asked Kyle. Nick remembered his schedule.

"Nothing, I have a spare," he replied. Kyle looked at the floor

"Oh," he said dejectedly. "I have chemistry. See you at lunch with the guys then?" Nick raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah, detention. See you twenty minutes into lunch with the guys then?" Nick chuckled and nodded. Kyle disappeared down the hallway. Since Nick had nothing to do until his detention, Nick decided he would sit in the cafeteria until then. Nick walked back down the stairs and down the hallway he came from.

A few turns later he arrived at his destination. To his surprise, the cafeteria was completely empty. Without complaining, Nick sat down at the table closest to the exit. He placed his bag on the tabletop and took in the surroundings. The cafeteria looked as if it hadn't been renovated in twenty years. Nick leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. If he was lucky, he'd fall asleep and wake up just in time to serve his detention.

* * *

 _And here I thought summer would allow me to write more. Sike, bitch, you're lazy now. Senior year starts in a few weeks, maybe a concrete schedule will kick my ass into gear. -Prince_


	6. Chapter 6 - Hopps Clan

The atmosphere in the cafeteria was calming for certain. For the short amount of time he had been sitting there, Nick was already beginning to feel drowsy. He surprised himself, as he was only joking when he thought about falling asleep, but the sudden thrust into early mornings seemed to be taking a toll on him. He quickly snapped straight, not wanting to fall asleep. As much as he wanted to, he didn't want to miss his detention and get himself into deeper trouble.

Nick attempted to keep himself occupied by counting the number of clay bricks made up the wall to his right, but quickly grew irritated as he continued to lose count. Up next was counting the amount of sound dampening boards that lined the wall. That occupied Nick for about five minutes. Nick counted them again to be sure; the final count was one-hundred-twenty-eight. Nick put his head down on the table and sighed.

A sudden sound caused Nick to lift his head. The door behind him had been opened. Nick looked over his shoulder to the door to see who came in. Whoever it was, Nick could only see the very end of their tail. He looked over his other shoulder to see a tall, off-black wolf approach the vending machines in the far corner.

 _It's Aaron._ Thought Nick.

Nick placed his head back onto the table and watched Aaron purchase a drink from one of the four machines. Once he was done, Aaron turned around and began walking toward the exit. He saw Nick as he approached the door and smiled, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, Nick. Why are you in the cafeteria all alone?" he asked. Nick sat up straight and stretched his back.

"I don't have a class right now. I also have a detention at lunch so I can't go anywhere," Nick replied, slouching back onto the table. Aaron raised a paw to his face.

"Well, I don't have a class either. If you want, you can come with me and hang out with a few of my other friends," Aaron said finally. Nick glanced at Aaron over his shoulder.

"Other friends?" he asked. Aaron snorted.

"Well, yeah. It's not like Gideon, Travis, Kyle, and Skylar are my only friends. C'mon, they'll introduce themselves and we'll have a good conversation," Aaron pleaded. Nick pondered for a moment. He had no reason to refuse, plus meeting some more mammals would leave him a little less short on acquaintances. Nick stood up from the chair and grabbed his bag from the tabletop.

"Alright, sounds good to me. Lead the way," Nick replied. Nick followed Aaron out of the cafeteria and to the right. Across from the cafeteria was a rather depressing looking courtyard. Rotting wooden picnic tables as well as a charcoal barbecue scattered the grass, and the few trees that were out there looked as if they were on the verge of death. After about twenty metres, Aaron took another right turn. Nick hadn't been this far into the school yet, and grew concerned when Aaron started walking toward one of the exits.

Before they reached the exit, however, Aaron stopped in front of a door previously hidden by a row of lockers. Aaron knocked twice on the door and attempted to open the door. He raised his voice to try to get those inside to hear him.

"Open the door, I have someone for you to meet," Aaron called. The response was too muffled for Nick to hear, but the sound of computer chair wheels on hardwood indicated that someone had got up and was heading toward the door. Whoever answered the door stayed hidden from Nick's line of sight. The voice was undoubtedly female. Aaron and the voice exchanged a few words before Aaron beckoned him over. Nick slowly approached the door.

"Ah, you've brought the sacrifice. Excellent, prepare the altar!" said another voice. Nick raised an eyebrow.

"You shut your mouth," replied the female voice as Nick walked through the door. He stood next to Aaron as he scanned over the room. It was immediately clear to Nick that this was the music room. Different instruments and instrument cases lined the walls and a mock stage was set up at the front of the room. A couple of guitar cases, a keyboard, and a drum kit were set up on the stage. Sitting at the drum kit was a brown-furred rabbit with white spots littering the tips of her ears and the ends of her arms.

"Prepare to be sacrificed, mortal!" shouted another rabbit. This rabbit had dark grey fur not too dissimilar from Aaron's. The rabbit clambered atop one of the desks and pointed toward Nick, a playful grin plastered onto his face. A second doe sharing the same fur colour, and presumably the one who answered the door, approached the dark grey rabbit and smacked one of his legs in an attempt to get him off the table. The dark grey rabbit remained unmoved however, and the doe retreated back to her original spot, shaking her head.

"I apologize for my brother. Jace can be a bit hyperactive at times. My name's Joyce," said the doe. Nick nodded before taking a glance at Jace, who was now sitting cross-legged on the surface of the desk. Jace caught Nick's glare.

"I'm not hyperactive, you're just slow," replied Jace. Joyce rolled her eyes. Nick returned to the doe and extended an arm.

"Well, I'm Nick. I just moved to Bunnyburrow from Zootopia," Nick said with a smile. Joyce shook Nick's outstretched paw.

"Where are Jake and Jayden? I didn't see them when I walked in. And aren't you gonna introduce yourself to Nick a bit more? All you gave him was your name," Aaron added, sounding slightly concerned. Joyce pondered for a moment on what order to answer Aaron's questions.

"Well, Jake and Jayden are in the maintenance room back there." She pointed toward a door near the back of the classroom. Through the glass, two figures could me made out, but not much more than that. "And I figured I'd let someone else introduce me, you know, so it's fair?" Joyce replied. Aaron nodded slowly as he processed Joyce's answers.

"I kind of see where you're coming from." As Aaron finished his sentence, a loud crash, followed by muffled shouts of frustration came from the maintenance room. Aaron and Nick winced, while Joyce remained neutral. After a few seconds the shouting subsided. "I think I'll go check on them. In the meantime, why don't you introduce Nick to Jace and Jessie?"

Before Joyce could say anything, Aaron had already left for the maintenance room, leaving Nick alone with Joyce. The two stared awkwardly at each other for about five seconds before they both began walking toward where Jace was sitting. As they approached the dark grey rabbit, he looked up from his phone screen, his eyes darting between Nick and Joyce.

"So this is my brother, Jace." Before Joyce could finish her introduction, Jace had already grabbed Nick's paw firmly in his own and was shaking furiously. Nick's eyes widened at the sudden movement, but the bunny wasn't shaking nearly hard enough to cause him any pain.

"So you're Nick, eh? Well, welcome to our little group! While some may be a bit peeved to have a new addition," He stared intensely at his sister. In response, Joyce raised an eyebrow. "I, however, welcome you with open arms." Joyce shot a critical glare toward Jace, but he remained unmoved. "Come on, Joyce. That was good, right? I didn't insult you once," he added.

"It was definitely implied. Let's go talk to Jessie, yeah?" Joyce said quickly. She attempted to pull Nick away from her brother, but Nick wouldn't budge. Jace caught on to what Joyce was doing and instantly hopped off of the table he was seated on. When he entered her line of sight, Joyce stopped trying to drag Nick away and groaned.

"Ah, going to introduce Nick here to Miss Thumper. I think I'll tag along." Jace said cheerfully. Nick turned to Joyce at the sound of the odd name.

"Thumper?" Nick asked, stifling a chuckle. Joyce sighed.

"It's Jace's nickname for her because she's able to drum so quickly at times," Joyce explained. Nick nodded. It made sense, and he felt that it had a kind of ring to it. Jace sprinted ahead of the other two to meet up with Jessie.

"Hey, Jess! The fox is coming to say hello!" he called. As Jace ran onto the mock stage, Jessie looked up from the floor and removed the ear bud from one of her ears. She looked over the fox before removing the other ear bud and allowing them to dangle from the neck of her shirt.

"Jessie, this is Nick, Aaron found him in the hallway," Joyce said. Nick scoffed.

"For your information, Aaron did not find me in the hallway, he found me in the park." Jace and Jessie both laughed, and Joyce even smiled. "He brought me here because I have a spare in second and I figured it was better than counting the amount of bricks in any given wall."

"Oh, cool. Well to get it out of the way, I'm Jessie, or as Jace likes to call me, 'Thumper.'"

"I could never figure out why you're not offended at that name," Joyce interrupted. Jessie shrugged her shoulders.

"I think it's alright."

"Ha!" Jace shouted mockingly toward Joyce. Joyce didn't acknowledge her brother in any way.

"Anyway, did Aaron tell you what we're all about, or did that big heart of his just tell him to drag you in here on short notice?" Jessie asked. Nick shook his head.

"Nope, I hadn't received a lick of information from him," he replied. Jessie left her seat behind the drum kit and guided Nick, as well as Jace and Joyce, toward an empty desk. She motioned for Nick to take a seat before sitting down across from him.

"In case it wasn't obvious, we're all in a band," Jessie began. Nick smiled and nodded.

"That's pretty cool. So it's like a family thing?" Nick asked. Jessie leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms

"Pretty much. We got Joyce her on bass because no one else would do it." Joyce seemed to have taken offence to her sister's statement, but remained silent. "We got Jace as well as Jake on the guitars. They grew up doing it together and were the first two members of the band. Jayden plays that keyboard over there sometimes, but most of the time he makes sure everything sounds as best as it can, during and post production. And finally, I'm on drums."

"Sounds like quite the operation. So who's your vocalist?" Nick asked. Jessie's eyes widened.

"He really didn't tell you anything, did he?" she whispered "It's Aaron. He has the voice of an angel I swear." Nick pondered the new information before shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders.

"You're serious? I just can't picture it," Nick replied. Jessie groaned.

"We're gonna have to fix that real soon. I don't think we'll be playing today, seeing as Jake's been having a ridiculous amount of issues with his guitar recently, but as soon as we get things going you need to be here to hear him," Jessie said, grabbing Nick by the torso.

The door across the room opened and three mammals filed out; Aaron, an off-white rabbit holding a guitar, and a lighter grey one holding what looked like guitar strings. The two rabbits broke away from Aaron and sat down at one of the empty desks. They muttered indistinctly between each other as Aaron approached the other four. Nick made continuous eye contact with the wolf as he finally joined them. Confused, Aaron raised an eyebrow.

"What's going on here? Why are you staring at me like that?" he asked. Joyce turned to Aaron and smiled.

"We were just introducing Nick to Jessie. Could you tell Jake and Jayden to come here, please?" Joyce replied. Aaron was about to argue, but a quick intense glare from Joyce caused the words to become trapped in his throat. Aaron turned on his heels and went to fetch the two outliers. Moments later, the two rabbits stood before Nick.

"Who's the fox?" asked the off-white rabbit. Before Nick could say anything, the off-white rabbit received a swift smack to the back of the head from Aaron.

"You can't just say that," Aaron said through a clenched jaw. The off-white rabbit glanced up at Aaron before crossing his arms. The light grey rabbit stood shaking his head. "This right here," Aaron tapped the off-white rabbit. "is Jake. This here," Aaron tapped the light grey rabbit. "is Jayden." Both Jake and Jayden waved, and Nick returned it.

"I'm Nick, nice to meet you." The two rabbits said nothing. Nick noticed that Aaron still had a grip on both of the rabbit's shoulders. Nick attempted to signal Aaron using his eyes, but Aaron only responded with a confused stare. Finally, Nick decided to point out that he was probably almost crushing Jake and Jayden's shoulders. At the mention of the topic, Aaron quickly removed his paws from the rabbits and sported an embarrassed expression afterwards.

Jake and Jayden both grabbed chairs to sit down, and Aaron did the same. Now, everyone was sitting in a circle, and all had their eyes on Nick, as if they were expecting him to say something. Nick began to grow anxious due to their stares. He darted in between everyone's eyes, each pair watching him as attentively as the last. Wanting to get rid of their glares, Nick remembered what Jessie had told him, and decided to use it as an excuse to get him out of the spotlight.

"Hey, Aaron, Jessie tells me you're a good vocalist," Nick said quickly. His plan worked. Everyone shifted their attention to Aaron, who reflexively leaned back in his chair.

"Uh...well, The think I'm good, but I'm not so sure of myself to be honest," Aaron replied. Jace threw his arms up, presumably out of frustration.

"Oh, here we go again! Don't be so modest, dude. Just admit it, you're good," he shouted. Jace's praise only caused Aaron to sink further into his chair. He pointed an accusing finger toward Jessie, and his expression turned sour.

"Why did you even tell him, anyway?" Aaron asked, frustrated. Jessie raised an eyebrow and stifled a chuckle in the sleeve of her sweater.

"You invited him here, he was gonna find out eventually. Or were you planning to leave him where you found him when we record vocals? Was that your plan?" Jessie asked.

"No! I- well-" Aaron continued to babble for another ten seconds. He shut up immediately after he saw Jessie crack a smile and roll her eyes at him. "I just don't know why you think I'm so good."

"Um? Are you aware you have the voice of a god?" Jessie shouted back. Nick watched and listened to Jessie and Aaron argue back and forth for the next little while. Soon afterwards, Joyce joined in on Jessie's side. While the two on one unfolded, Jake and Jayden slipped away from the group to continue work on Jake's finicky guitar. Nick and Jace were left to watch them. They both looked at each other as the shouting continued.

"You know, I've had about enough of this," Jace commented. Nick glanced at the three and nodded.

"Yup, me too."

Despite the high amount of racket coming from the three arguing parties, and the tuning of Jake's guitar in the background, Nick was able to make out the familiar grating sound of the school's digital bell. Immediately, Nick's body filled with dread. He quickly gathered his things, causing a momentary cease of the argument.

"Hey, where are you going? Are you really that excited to eat the cafeteria food?" Jace asked as he began stacking the chairs. Nick turned around quickly.

"No, I have a detention to get to!" He glanced at the clock above the door. "Crap! Gotta go, see you later I guess?" Nick shouted as he left the room. Nick remembered exactly what Mrs. Toby had told him as he was sprinting down the hallway, narrowly missing some of the students already making their way to the cafeteria. After a short while of searching, Nick arrived at Room 130, where detentions were served.

He entered the room and took a seat at the desk closest to the door. Another student was seated in another desk a couple rows over. At the front of the room was the staff member responsible for watching over them. He wasn't doing his job too well however, as he was asleep, and it looked like he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. Slowly, Nick leaned over to speak to the student to his right.

"Excuse me, but shouldn't he be awake?" Nick asked in a loud whisper. The bunny glanced over his shoulder to meet Nick's eyes. His eyes were a bright violet that he could have sworn he'd seen before, however he couldn't quite place it. The rabbit glanced toward the teacher at the front of the room, then back to Nick. He pointed toward the teacher.

"Him? He never wakes up. Watch this." The rabbit grabbed a shabby notebook from his backpack and tore a sheet from it. He crumpled it up and threw it as hard as he could at the teacher. The paper ball bounced off the teacher's head and landed on the floor behind the desk. The rabbit repeated his action a few more times, and even threw one of the cardboard covers at him. Still, the teacher remained unmoved and undisturbed. Nick chuckled.

"Cool." The digital bell rang again signalling the beginning of the lunch period. Nick remembered that he only had to be in there for twenty minutes, and made a mental note to check the time periodically, as the teacher up front wouldn't be reminding him any time soon. "What's your name?" Nick asked suddenly. The rabbit turned back around to Nick and smirked.

"The name's Jack Hopps, nice to meet ya."

* * *

 _Thank you to those who have supported me thus far, and to those who can bear to wait a while for an update. -Prince_


	7. Chapter 7 - Jack's Advice

It had clicked almost instantly. Hopps, the violet eyes, even the colours in his fur. Jack was one of Judy's siblings. Another thing clicked moments later. He recalled back to earlier when Skylar told him to watch for a rabbit named Jack. Could this be the same Jack? It was possible, but because of the population of the school, it was more than likely that there were other rabbits named Jack in the school. Nick offered Jack a friendly smile and turned to face him for a more direct conversation.

"I'm Nick Wilde," Nick replied. Jack nodded. He leaned back in his chair and placed his legs up on the table. He put his arms behind his head and stared toward the front of the room.

"So I've heard," Jack paused for a moment. "You here to kill us?" he asked jokingly. Nick raised his paws defensively at the sudden statement.

"What? No!" Nick replied. Jack chuckled.

"Then what for?"

"My parents dragged me out here. They were sick of the city," Nick said somberly. Jack looked over to Nick with a more sympathetic expression.

"That's rough. Having to leave all your friends that you've known for years behind and be thrown into a new environment. You're in what grade?" Jack said quietly. Nick glanced to the floor.

"Twelfth," Nick replied. Jack's eyes widened.

"That's even worse. I can't imagine having to make new friends during my last year of high school," Jack observed. Nick's face lifted a bit.

"Well, I did make some already," Nick added. Jack smiled slightly.

"Oh, well that's good I guess." Jack glanced out the window for a few seconds before returning his gaze to the front of the classroom. "Who did you end up meeting?" Jack asked as he turned to face Nick. He thought about Jack's question. He knew the answer the instant he asked, but he still held his tongue. He debated for a while whether he should tell him the whole truth, but with one last look at Jack, he decided that some things were best left out for now.

"I did meet a group of mammals in the music room. That's where I was during my second period spare," Nick replied. Jack nodded.

"Uh-huh. So you met some of my brothers and sisters then." Jack's answer had only confirmed Nick's suspicion.

"I guess I did. Anything I should know about them? Something they might not've told me?" Nick asked. Jack shrugged his shoulders and lifted a paw to his neck.

"The're not a bad group, it's just sometimes they can get a little noisy, and it gets a bit annoying over time. But when they do pull themselves together, their sound is unlike anything you've ever heard, believe me," Jack replied.

"They were a bit more on the noisy side today if we're being honest. They were nice for the most part," Nick added.

"Yeah. And if you were in there with everyone else, then you probably met Aaron as well." Nick raised an eyebrow.

"I did. What about him?" Nick asked. Jack shook his head.

"It's nothing about him, he's a cool guy. It's his other friend group that concerns me."

"What is it about them, then?" Nick added. Jack opened his mouth to speak, but did not say anything. He thought for another minute. During this time, Nick glanced at the clock – their twenty minutes were halfway up.

"They're just such bad influences on him. I can't wrap my head around why he hangs out with them. The big fox, Gideon. The smaller fox, Skylar. And the weasel, Travis. They all have such toxic personalities around school. The coyote keeps to himself, but he doesn't do anything anyway. The other three, though. They always keep their distance from the rest of the students whenever they can. They have this whole idea that everyone hates them because they're not rabbits or something. Trust me, it's as dumb as it sounds," Jack explained. Nick said nothing, but nodded along as Jack talked.

"Really? That's what they're usually like?" Nick asked. Jack sighed and nodded his head yes.

"Yup. Listen. Stay away from them if you can help it. Because you're a fox, they'll approach you sooner rather than later, and when they do, just keep what I said in mind, okay? It'll help you make the right decision in the end," Jack added. The two stared at each other for a few seconds. Slowly, Nick turned away from Jack. He allowed another few seconds to pass before he glanced at the clock. His twenty minutes were up. He leaned over toward Jack and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, I think we can leave now," Nick said. Jack looked around Nick's head at the clock, taking note of the time. He nodded before reaching under the desk for his bag.

"Yeah, let's go," Jack said. Nick gathered his things and they both left the room together. Once in the hallway, Jack stopped Nick. "Gimme your number," he stated. Nick raised an eyebrow.

"My what?" Nick asked, confused. Jack snickered.

"Your number. Your phone number?" Jack replied, slapping Nick's right leg. Nick passed over the spot where Jack had touched him. It was right where is pocket was.

"I would, except I don't have a phone," Nick said. Jack's eyes widened.

"No way. I thought you would have one, since your from the city and all," Jack said smiling. Nick chuckled.

"Yeah, I've had enough mammals ask me for their number after I moved here. I think my Dad is gonna do something about that as soon as Saturday rolls around, though. For now, just add me online," Nick said, pointing at the device in Jack's paw. "Just search my name, I'm there." Jack nodded and got to tapping away on the phone's screen.

"Sweet. Now are you headed to the caf? Because I refuse to eat there." Jack said semi-seriously. Nick laughed.

"Yeah I am. I kinda promised Aaron I'd go with him and the others," Nick said. Jack smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"Alright then, don't keep them waiting See you 'round," Jack said before walking in the opposite direction from Nick. Nick waved and turned the corner toward the cafeteria. After a short walk, he arrived to a surprisingly empty dining area. On the bright side, he was able to spot the group very easily, as they made up about a quarter of the population at the time. Nick ran across the dining room and took the last empty seat at the group's table.

"Why is the caf so empty?" Nick asked. As it seemed, nobody was listening. Joyce, Jake, Jayden, and Aaron were all deep in debate about something, and Jess had completely tuned out the rest of the group with her ear pods. The only one at the table who even heard Nick was Jace. Jace lifted his stare from his smartphone and looked over toward Nick.

"Oh, hey Nick. Nobody eats here because the food just sucks. There's a chip stand and a sandwich shop like, three blocks from the school anyway, so most of 'em just go there instead. It's good for us," he said, gesturing toward the others. "We can have these stupid discussions as loud as we want," Jace continued, raising his voice near the end. Jace's tonal shift had caused Joyce to momentarily free herself from the discussion.

"You're not a part of this, Jace, so shut your mouth!" she shouted. Jace snorted.

"Because I chose not to be. As soon as I heard the topic, I bounced," Jace shouted back. Joyce only rolled her eyes before entering the fray once more. Nick glanced between Jace and the others a few times, debating whether or not to join. Jace caught on to Nick's train of thought, and looked discouragingly toward him. "Don't you do it," he said sternly.

"I'm gonna do it," Nick replied.

"You're gonna regret it," Jace said, trying to contain his laughter. Nick shook his head. Nick ignored Jace's warnings and butted his way into the discussion. Jace sighed. "It's really stupid, believe me!" Jace shouted at Nick. However, his shouts were of no effect. Nick was already in too deep.

* * *

 _Apologies for the shortness? Just not a good month for me I guess. -Prince_


	8. Chapter 8 - Assistance

Conversation between the group continued even after the warning bell went. What was being discussed quickly devolved from discussing a single topic to everyone spouting hot takes while the others either agreed or wildly overreacted. By the end of it, everyone was laughing. It was a good experience, especially for Nick, who felt like he got to know the Hopps group a little bit better.

"What's next on the schedule, Nick?" asked Jace, who was last to gather his things and leave the table. Nick reached into his pocket and retrieved a folded up piece of paper. He looked it over briefly before folding it up once more and shoving it back into his pocket.

"Math class in room 215," Nick replied. A few group members glanced at each other before returning to Nick.

"I figured. Pretty much every senior shares a math class," added Joyce. Nick smiled and nodded.

"I guess that's pretty cool. So now we can all walk to class together," said Nick. In one group, they all walked down the hallways away from the cafeteria and up the stairs. Room 215 was at the very end of the upstairs hallway on the left side. "Who teaches this class?" Nick asked.

"His name is Mr. Martin. He's the best teacher in the building, believe it," Jace replied. Math wasn't one of Nick's strong suits. He had just scraped by his previous math classes with grades between sixty and seventy-five. Even though he still didn't know what he was gonna do once school was done, he knew that those marks weren't gonna help him as much as he would like them to.

"He's a good teacher? Or a good _teacher?_ " Nick added. Jace raised an eyebrow, confused.

"What does that mean?" Nick attempted to explain what he meant a few times, but couldn't find the correct words to describe what he was thinking. He decided to just simplify his thoughts with a question.

"Is he a good teacher, or does he have a good personality?" Nick replied eventually. Jace pondered over Nick's question for a few seconds. He scrunched up his face as he thought.

"Oh, you mean like 'Is he nice?'" Jace asked. Nick nodded furiously.

"Yeah, that's what I meant," Nick replied. It was then that Nick realized that he was incredibly tired. Jace scoffed, waving his paw in a dismissive fashion.

"Oh, yeah, he's nice. He's both. That's what makes him the best around here,"Jace replied. The group walked the entire length of the upstairs hall when they reached Room 215. The door was open and there were already a few students sitting at desks in various locations across the room. As if by second nature, the rest of the group took one of the seats in the back corner of the classroom closest to the window. Nick hesitated. He saw an open seat in the middle of the class and took it.

He was in the exact center of the room, with the Hopps group and Aaron to his rear-left. To his rear-right was Gideon's group sans Skylar. Gideon, Travis, and Kyle were whispering amongst each other. Finally, to the front-right, was Jack sitting on his own. Nick felt a bit bad for Jack, seeing him alone like that. His face was expressionless as he stared into the bright-lit screen of his smartphone, scrolling disinterestedly through story after story.

As class was about to begin, a final set of footsteps came from outside the room. Seconds later, a rabbit entered the room, as well as another mammal, presumably the teacher. The rabbit was one that Nick recognized. It was the same rabbit from the gym earlier that day: student president Judy Hopps. Judy and the teacher finished up their conversation and Judy took a seat next to Jack. Jack immediately put his phone away and began talking with her. At that moment, Nick had a thought.

 _Why don't the Hopps all sit together?_

The teacher jumped up onto his desk with a little difficulty; the chair was just that much too big for him. Mr. Martin, a marten, climbed from the chair onto the desk, which was definitely too big for him. He waved his arms in the air and cleared his throat loudly to get the students' attention. The talking ceased and everyone looked toward the teacher.

"Thank you. Good afternoon. You guys know me, I'm Mr. Martin, and I know most of you from previous classes, so there shouldn't be any difficulty remembering names. This is the grade twelve university math course, so if you're supposed to be in twelve C, then go to Room 207 just down the hall." After no one got up to leave, Mr. Martin nodded. He began to walk around the classroom, handing out course syllabuses as he did. Nick watched as he worked his way column by column until he arrived at his own desk. He stopped and stared at Nick for a second.

"Are you new to this school?" he asked politely.

"Yes," Nick replied. Mr. Martin smiled.

"Ah, I see. Looks like I will have to try to remember a new name this semester," he said, handing a paper to Nick. He finished up handing the papers out and returned to his desk. He produced a laptop computer from behind his desk and placed it in front of him. After thirty seconds of silence, he began to take the class attendance. Nick listened as he, one by one, named each student in the room. Nick knew his name was gonna be at the bottom since it started with a 'W.' At last, Nick heard his name called. He raised his arm. "Nicholas Wilde, good to meet you."

With attendance taken, Mr. Martin rose from his desk once again with a new stack of papers in his arm. Just like before, he went across the room handing each student one paper. Nick looked down at the paper that was placed on his desk and sighed. It was a review sheet, covered with math problems on both sides. Math definitely wasn't his favourite subject, but he could always manage at least a B. Nick heard some shuffling around him. He looked up to see that students were beginning to group up. Nick looked back down at the page and saw that the instructions stated that students may work in groups.

Nick watched as more students left their seats to go meet their friends. The Hopps clan hadn't moved too far, they only turned their desks around so they were all facing each other. He noticed that Aaron had moved to Nick's right, to Gideon and the others. A group of other students he didn't know had all moved to the corner of the room closest to the teacher's desk. It occurred to Nick that he was sitting all on his own.

In the last corner of the room, Nick saw that Jack and Judy hadn't moved at all. By this point, everyone else had settled down into their own groups, each one talking about their own things in a whisper. Nick had to decide where he was gonna go. On one side, there was Gideon's group. They were the first to approach him when he arrived in town. They made him feel like he belonged in a place where he was so different from the majority. On the other, there was the Hopps group. Despite having just met them, he felt like he and them really clicked, much better than he did with Gideon's group. Nick sighed again, lowering his head.

A thought at the back of Nick's head made him glance over to Jack and Judy's corner. They were the ones Nick knew least about, and he interacted with the both of them just once. A strange feeling enveloped Nick as he wanted to know them better. Perhaps it was his nature to want to know everyone, and before he knew it, he was up from his seat and was making his way to them. He plopped himself down quietly next to Jack, who was already halfway down the first side of the paper.

The sound of rustling paper caught Jack's attention, and he glanced to his left to see that someone had taken the vacant desk. Jack looked Nick up and down as he tried to make out who it was. It took a few seconds to register, but Jack identified the fox and offered a smile and a nod before returning to his work. Nick quietly watched Jack as he breezed through the second half of the first side of the page.

"You're pretty good at this, aren't you?" Nick asked. Jack stopped writing and glanced over at Nick. Jack stared at Nick with an irritated expression for a few seconds before returning to his work. Nick raised an eyebrow in confusion. Nick attempted to get Jack's attention once more, but was ignored. From behind Jack, Judy couldn't help but overhear Nick. She leaned forward to look around her brother.

"He's always like this when he's doing schoolwork," Judy said. Nick leaned forward to meet Judy. "He gets things done quick so he can move on to new material. I trust he's a bit irritable right now because the review isn't too helpful to him at this point."

"So he'll be back to normal after he's done?" Nick asked. Judy nodded.

"Pretty much. How'd you meet him, anyway?" she asked. Nick hesitated

"In...detention," he said as he looked downward," Judy rolled her eyes.

"I figured. He was probably in there for back-talking the teachers again. Probably something along the lines of 'I don't need the review, just give me the new stuff,'" she said. Nick chuckled. A quick knock on the desk from Jack caused them both to glance over to him. He rose quickly from his seat and walked over to the teacher's desk at a brisk pace. Moments later, he returned.

"He told us to keep the sheets. We'll be doing the review all week," Jack said, rolling his eyes as he sat down.

"That just means you won't have to exert yourself too much for the rest of the week," Judy said as she placed a paw on Jack's shoulder. Jack brushed his sister's paw from him and sighed.

"I guess so. Even though I like doing new things academically, a little bit of extra relaxation time never hurt anyone," Jack conceded. Judy smiled. Jack allowed himself to slide deeper into his seat.

"How'd you get so good at this stuff? I was doing this three months ago and now I can't remember a thing," Nick said, staring at his page confused. Jack looked over to Nick and shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, memory I guess. As for the not remembering, it'll come back to you eventually, it always does," Jack said. Nick sighed.

"I don't know about that one," he replied dejectedly after taking another look at his page. Jack sat up straight.

"I could even help you after school if you'd like," Jack offered. Nick's ears peaked.

"Really?" he asked in disbelief. Jack nodded.

"Sure. Judy usually asks for a refresher at the beginning of the year, this way I can help the both of you," Jack said. The two looked over to Judy, who was slowly but surely making her way through the second question. "What about it, you in?" Jack asked. Nick smiled.

"Yeah, I'm in." Jack nodded.

"Sweet. You can walk home with us, too."

Nick was definitely excited. He had only been to one other mammal's house since moving into Bunnyburrow. He was anxious to see what a rabbit house looked like, since he's heard that their families are usually quite large. The proof was there. There were seven Hopps in that class, and those were just the ones his age.

* * *

 _Hope you liked it, despite long wait. -Prince_


	9. Chapter 9 - The Burrows

Nick could no longer focus by the time fourth period rolled around, most of it was a blur. He was too anxious about his plans after school. Before he left his math lesson earlier in that day, Jack had asked Nick to meet him at the northernmost door of the school, referred to by Jack as 'Smoker's Corner.' As the name revealed, it was where all the students who smoked would gather before, during, and after school. Jack reassured Nick multiple times that he didn't smoke, something Nick found funnier than he should have.

Regardless, Nick did as he was told. Sure enough, Jack was standing by the door just like he'd said. He stood away from the group of students who were most likely waiting for their bus, trying not to blend in. Nick descended the second set of stairs as Jack glanced up from his phone. As soon as they made eye contact, Jack cracked a huge grin, waving Nick over. His smile was contagious, as it had cause Nick to begin smiling as well.

"What's so funny?" Nick asked cheerfully. Jack chuckled and pointed at his phone.

"I-I was trying to text you...but then I remembered you don't have a phone!" he said between laughs. Nick started laughing as well.

"Oh no," Nick replied.

"I know, I was thinking to myself, 'Why don't I have his number, I swear I asked for it,' then it came back to me." The two of them quickly calmed themselves down. Nick glanced out the window to see groups of students about ten meters from the door, all talking amongst each other. Every second mammal had a cigarette in one of their paws. Nick looked back to Jack, who was staring down at his phone once more.

"We ready to go?" Nick asked. Jack shot Nick a quick glance before returning to his screen while shaking his head.

"No, we still gotta wait for Judy. She's got some 'presidential' stuff to take care of, however presidential that may be." Jack paused for a few moments. "She said she'll be here in five," Jack added. He returned his phone to his pocket and gave a contemptuous glare toward the students on the side of the road. "Disgusting," he said coldly. Nick nodded his head.

"Yeah, what do you have to gain from it?" Footsteps came from the top of the stairwell. Nick and Jack glanced over as a group of rabbits and a wolf rounded the landing. It was the rest of the Hopps plus Aaron. Jack suddenly opened the door and walked out as soon as he recognized them. The other Hopps stared back blankly as they descended the stairs. Aaron, unlike the others, gave Nick and Jack a friendly wave.

"See you tomorrow, right Nick?" Aaron asked. Nick raised an eyebrow, looking back and forth between them and Jack

"Er, yeah, see you tomorrow," he replied awkwardly, returning the wave. As soon as they were far enough down the hallway, Jack began knocking on the door. Confused, Nick pushed the door open for him. Jack coughed once as the door closed. "What was that all about?" Nick asked, crossing his arms. Jack hesitated for a moment, but as he was about to speak, another set of footsteps were coming down the stairs. It was a single set this time, and when they rounded the landing, a rabbit, sharing the same violet eyes as Jack, descended the stairs.

"Sorry, sorry, I just had a few things to sort. Ready to go?" Judy asked. Nick remained silent while Jack rolled his eyes.

"Yes, please," Jack replied, adding emphasis to the 'please.' The three of them exited the building and left the property on a concrete path. As they walked along the property line, Nick continued to think about Jack's sudden decision to join the smokers. It was odd to say the least. By the time they reached the street corner, Nick couldn't stay silent any longer.

"Alright, you already know I'm gonna have to ask what the hell that was," Nick stated in a confrontational tone. Jack looked toward Nick confused, but it quickly clicked in his head what Nick was asking about. He looked across the street, away from Nick.

"What what was?" Jack asked, now faking his previous confusion. Nick's eyes widened in frustration.

"Um?" he replied quickly, pointing behind them in the direction of the school behind them. "You kinda dipped in the middle of a conversation back there, care to explain?" Nick added. Jack looked toward Nick and sneered before returning his gaze to the path ahead.

I...saw an interesting looking leaf blow by," Jack replied slowly. Judy held back a chuckle. Nick, on the other hand, didn't seem to find Jack's comment funny at all.

"You what?" Nick shouted. He groaned, burying his face into one of his paws. A few moments of silence passed between them. They had left the small neighborhood the school was situated in and were now walking toward another neighborhood called 'The Burrows.' Like the name suggests, the neighborhood consists of only burrows for bunny families that exceed one hundred and fifty, but did not exceed three hundred. As populous as the neighborhood is, it didn't look that way, as there was very little construction above ground.

"Jack, if Nick's gonna be coming home with us, I think he deserves to know about them," Judy said, breaking the silence. The statement came as a shock to both Nick and Jack, so much as to cause Jack to stumble. Jack caught himself before he could fall, making sure to avoid eye contact.

"Know what? There's nothing to know," Jack replied a little too quickly. Nick began to grow suspicious, and Judy realized that. Judy sighed.

"There's no use hiding it from him, is there? Think of it like this, if he doesn't hear it from us, he'll hear it from them." Jack stopped walking, the other two stopped with him. "Do you want that?" Judy continued. Jack stared down the long empty stretch of road they were walking on. He attempted to protest further, but whatever words he could come up with simply dissolved on his tongue.

"N-no," he managed to reply. Judy nodded.

"Good." Nick stared at the two rabbits, more confused than ever. From the silence, Nick began to chuckle quietly. Jack and Judy slowly turned their heads, now confused as well.

"What's so funny?" Judy asked. Nick sighed.

"What's funny is-" he walked around the two and stood in front of them. "-is that I don't know a _thing_ about what's going on," Nick said, getting frustrated again. Judy raised a paw.

"Calm down, fox," Judy placed the raised paw on Nick's shoulder "We'll tell you once we get inside," Judy replied. She pointed toward one of the lots. The lot contained a lot of the normal farming stuff that he'd seen on his own property, just scaled down. However, instead of a farmstead, in its place was what looked like a large garage. On a signpost next to the driveway was the number '2987,' and the word 'Hopps' across the wall of the largest barn.

"Let's go," Judy called. She and Jack were already halfway down the driveway. Nick's heart skipped a beat. He was always intrigued by the concept of a burrow, and now he was about to see one in person. Nick ran to catch up with them at a brisk pace.

* * *

 _Something to tide you over until the next chapter, which should be longer -Prince_


	10. Chapter 10 - Family Matters

Nick caught up with Jack and Judy by the time they reached the door to the large garage-like structure. Without a second thought, Jack turned the handle to and disappeared inside, Judy following close behind. He saw that Jack was holding the door open through its dusty window, motioning him over with his free paw. Nick did not hesitate any longer and stepped through the doorway, Jack closing it behind him.

It had immediately dawned on Nick as to why it looked kind of like a garage on the outside: it was because it was a garage on the inside as well. There were two vehicles to Nick's right, both appropriately sized for a bunny to use. To his left was a sort of storage area for all kinds of tools, similar to that of his old school's tool room in the auto shop. To the uninitiated, it was your standard garage.

Nick began to look around for things out of place, and things out of place he did find. A straight shot through the garage from the front door was another, more traditional looking door. It was of wood construction, paying homage to classic farmsteads. Jack and Judy chatted idly as they both walked toward it. Judy placed a paw on the brass knob, ready to turn it. She stopped when she noticed that their trio was missing its third member. She looked back to see that Nick was still standing stupidly in the middle of the garage.

"You coming with us, or?" she asked slowly. The sound of a voice echoing off the walls brought Nick out of whatever daze he was in. He quickly crossed the room to meet up with the other two. Both Jack and Judy stared at him harshly as he caught up with them for the second time.

"Yeah, I've just never been in a rabbit den before," Nick admitted. Being excited was no exemption to being anxious. Jack chuckled before placing a comforting paw on Nick's shoulder.

"It's a bit different to what you're used to, I suppose. It's not that bad. There's no exposed earth and you'll forget you're underground in no time," Jack said softly. With that, Judy opened the door to the den. Beyond the door was a set of stairs, illuminated by a warm, comforting light. The two rabbits walked through the doorway for what was probably the millionth time, Nick following not too far behind. After about ten steps, the stairs hung a sharp left before descending another twenty steps. The light began to harshen as the stairs took a right.

As they neared the bottom, the stairs widened and the first room of the den was revealed: the main hall. In the center of the hall was a large table that stretched from one end of the hall to the other, topped with a pristine cloth. Nick scanned the table end to end. If he were to estimate how many chairs there were, he would have to guess around sixty to seventy. At the far end of the room was a old style wood fireplace, however it looked like it hadn't been used for years.

Jack and Judy stepped off the staircase and walked along the left side of the table. As Nick stepped off the staircase, he noticed that the main hall had smaller hallways branching off from it. Jack gazed across the main hall as Judy turned the corner into one of the smaller halls. Nick and Jack both lifted their ears as they heard thumping coming from down the hall.

"Woah!" Judy exclaimed as two smaller rabbits ran past her. The two rabbits quickly ran past Jack and Nick as well, both watched as they ran past. Nick could hear them giggling as they ran around the end of the table and into the hall adjacent. "Seth, Sam, what did I tell you about running in the halls?" Judy shouted. The young rabbits did not respond. Judy rolled her eyes.

"Were those more of your siblings?" Nick asked.

"A couple of them," Jack replied. "Those two specifically are always so hyperactive, always running around and being loud." Nick nodded.

"How do you deal with it? Doesn't it get annoying if they're always like that?" Nick asked. Jack shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess we just got used to it. You must have experienced something similar, no?" Nick shook his head.

"No, I'm an only child," he replied. Jack paused for a moment before nodding his head once. Jack and Nick joined Judy as she continued down the hall. The hallway contained many doors. Some were open, while others were closed. Each time they passed an open door, Nick quickly peeked into each one. He deduced that this was most likely the bedroom area of the den. After another few steps, Jack and Judy stopped at one of the closed doors.

"I wish we didn't have to shut ourselves in a room, but once the younger ones get home the noise levels will be unbearable. At least with these rooms they're soundproofed," Jack said as he pushed open the door.

The room was a typical setup, with a bed, desk, and wardrobe. However it felt, to Nick at least, that something was off. Despite them being however many feet underground, the room looked as if it were being flooded with natural light. Nick spun himself around looking for the source, garnering a short chuckle from Judy as she closed the door behind her. As Nick continued to stare at the ceiling, Jack sighed and took a seat at his desk, which contained nothing but a few pencils, some paper, and an older desktop computer.

We could all huddle around the desk if you don't mind standing. If not, we can all just sit on the rug," Jack said. He turned around to see Nick marvelling at the ceiling, as well as Judy staring at Nick trying to keep a straight face. Jack stared at them with a tired expression before letting out a lengthy sigh. "The way the lighting works is that it's hooked up to a timer that is synced to the outdoor light. The light comes from the small gap in between the trim and the ceiling," Jack explained. Nick finally lowered his head.

"That's so cool! I didn't know this kind of stuff existed," Nick replied.

"Yeah, well, it's the current year after all. Anyway, you can disable it like this." Jack walked over to the set of switches next to the door and flipped the first one. As soon as he did, the room was plunged into pitch darkness. As quickly as he shut it off, he turned it back on. "It's useful for when you want to sleep in on the weekends. Of course, there's also an artificial light, since the other light doesn't provide enough light once the sun goes down." Jack demonstrated his example by flipping the second switch, followed by the first one. The room was then lit by the single light fixture in the middle of the ceiling.

"Why can't you just have the daylight simulation light on whenever you want?" Nick asked. Jack shrugged his shoulders.

"Well, it has the capacity to mess with your sleep schedule if you lose track of time. At least with the artificial light all you have to do is shut it off and turn the simulation light back on to check how much daylight you have left." Jack returned from the switches and sat down on his bed facing Nick and Judy.

"That's a pretty good system," Nick added. Jack nodded.

"Yeah, our parents use it as their alarm clock, especially during the harvest season. They need to use as much of that daylight as they can to get the harvest done before the winter." Nick thought for a moment.

"Oh yeah! It snows here, doesn't it?" Nick asked. Jack and Judy raised a curious eyebrow toward Nick.

"It doesn't snow in Zootopia?" Judy asked?" Nick shook his head.

"Only in Tundratown, and there's snow year-round there." Jack smiled.

"Those Climate Walls truly are a marvel in technology. Without them, that many different mammals couldn't live in the same area. It's amazing what we can come up with when there's a demand," Jack commented, smiling. Judy rolled her eyes.

"Yeah? Well currently, there's a _demand_ for some assistance with our schoolwork, right Nick?" Judy stated, turning toward the fox. Nick stared back at Judy, surprised. Perhaps he and Jack had spent a little too much time talking about light fixtures and innovative technologies and not enough about what they were actually in Jack's room for.

"Er, I guess so. Besides, I need to be home before dark," Nick added, gaining approval from Judy. Jack stared back at them, perhaps a little disappointed. Regardless, Jack sat himself down on the rug in the middle of the room. He removed a notebook and a pen from his backpack and motioned for Nick and Judy to sit down as well.

"Right. Better get on it, then. We can even use the daylight simulation light as a gauge for when Nick has to leave," added Jack to spite Judy. The doe rolled her eyes as she sat down opposite to her brother.

They all fetched their schoolwork from their backpacks and set it down in the space in front of them. Jack oversaw the other two as they worked and did not hesitate to answer any questions. After Jack reminded them of the foundations, Nick and Judy caught on and work began to progress faster. The practice worksheets ended up getting finished quicker than they had anticipated. According to the lights on the ceiling, there was still plenty of daylight left. After a few minutes of silence between them, Nick recalled the brief spat they had on the walk to the burrow.

"You guys gonna tell me now?" Nick said. Jack looked up from his phone with a puzzled expression.

"What is there to tell?" Jack replied quickly before returning to his device. Nick glanced over at Judy, who had a pained expression as she stared at her brother.

"Well, if I recall correctly, Judy said 'If he doesn't hear it from us, he'll hear it from them.'" Nick replied. The quote caused Jack to peek over the top of his device and stare. Slowly, Jack lowered the device and shifted his gaze to Judy, who was growing irate. Jack crossed his arms.

"What of it?" he spat, returning to Nick once more. Nick's eyes narrowed.

"I want to know what _it_ is and who _them_ are. I was even promised an explanation once we got inside. Since we're done with our work and there's plenty of time left, what better time than now?" Nick stated, crossing his arms as well. Jack's eyes widened. He turned his attention to his sister, who shared Nick's expression. He sighed.

"Judy...why did you have to give him your word..." he asked dryly.

"Because we need to tell someone, Jack. Someone who hasn't listened to Joyce and Jace's lies. Wouldn't that be nice, Jack?" Judy replied angrily. Judy's sudden outburst startled Nick, causing him to jump.

"I-" Jack began. He attempted to find words to retaliate, but the prospect of someone being on their side was just too tempting. "Yeah, I guess it would be nice...but Nick already met them." Both Jack and Judy turned to Nick. He was shocked to have the spotlight shifted onto him so suddenly. Nick corrected his posture and gave each bunny a quick glance.

"Uh, well, I did meet them already, but while we got to know each other, they didn't mention either of you at all..." Nick pondered for a moment. "Except for when Jace compared Joyce to Judy after she was trying to get everyone to listen to her," Nick concluded. Judy rolled her eyes.

"That's good. They haven't infected your mind with untruths yet," Jack said. Nick held back a chuckle.

"What are these untruths anyway?" What would they have told me?" Nick finally asked. Jack glanced at the door, confirming that it was closed. He leaned in closer, followed by Judy.

"To answer those questions, you're gonna need some context, so we'll start there," Jack began. Nick made himself as comfortable as he could on the rug; he was prepared for whatever Jack was gonna tell him.

"So, you know that Joyce, Jace, and the others all have a band. The thing about that is, here's a shocker, it wasn't always like that. See, we, as in Judy and I, used to be in that band with them. I used to do all their vocals; they'd tell me what to sing and I'd do it. Judy here used to work on the post-production with Jayden. You follow?" Jack asked. Nick had been listening intensely. He nodded his head.

"Good. Everything had been going fine, we were even working on original music at this point. To reiterate, everything was going fine. That is, until the others decided that it was time to add a new member. For the record, Judy and I would have been fine with adding another band member. The only thing that we weren't fine with is how they called a meeting to discuss who was being added without our knowledge," Jack continued. After a few seconds of silence, Jack cleared his throat. "Mind taking over, Judy? I think you tell this part better." Judy nodded.

"If you hadn't guessed already, that new addition was Aaron. We arrived for rehearsal one night and there he was. Jack and I were confused, rightfully so because again, we didn't know he had been added. We asked who this wolf was and why he was here, and when they told us that he was our new vocalist, we were just blown away. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, Jack was livid, having thought he had been replaced. The whole thing devolved into a shouting match between everyone. Honestly, I feel bad for Aaron, as that was our first impression on him. After a few insults were thrown and authority was questioned, a vote was called by Joyce to have us kicked from the band. It was five against three in favour, and just like that, we were out," Judy concluded. Nick sat in silence for a few moments.

"Who else voted against? There were three votes against," Nick pointed out.

"The third vote was Aaron. Poor kid had no idea what was going on," Jack added. His attempt at humour had no effect on Nick's dampened mood.

"That's fucked. They kicked you out just for disagreeing." Nick said. Both Jack and Judy nodded their heads. "One more thing though. What would their version of the story sound like?" Nick asked.

"Oh, you're gonna love this one. They've been spreading this rumour that the reason we got kicked from the band was not because we didn't accept their decisions made without us, but that we were kicked for hating Aaron because he's a predator." Nick's jaw dropped slightly. He took a moment to process the words he had just heard.

"Unbelievable. What possible reason do the have to lie?" Nick asked.

"To make themselves the good guys. The worst part about it is: their lie is working. Everyone at school believes them. To be honest, it's a god damn miracle that Judy still became student president," Jack added. Nick shook his head. He was irritated because he had thought that his new friends were better than that. He growled.

"You know what? I'm gonna talk to them about this tomorrow. This cannot go without attention," Nick stated. Both Jack and Judy's eyes widened.

"No!" Judy shouted.

"That is quite unnecessary," Jack added. Nick scoffed.

"It is necessary. They treated you like dirt and you're just gonna leave it at that? Not happening!" Nick shouted back. Nick rose from his spot and made his way to the door. "I'll see you tomorrow as well. I'm gonna go home and think this over," Nick said. With that, Nick rose from his spot and made his way to the door. He left the room swiftly, making sure to close the door behind him. Where they were situated, it was not difficult to navigate the halls and find the exit. Nick stepped out of the garage, deep in thought. His thoughts stayed with him throughout his nearly hour-long walk all the way back home.

As his house came into view, he noticed that his parents still hadn't returned. He used the key his mother gave him and unlocked the door. He marched through the house and up the stairs toward his room. He powered on his computer and sat down in his chair, running his paws over his face. As soon as the desktop loaded he saw that he had several unread messages; all from Gideon's group. Nick cleared the notifications, all of which came from the group chat he had been added to, but one still remained. It was a direct message from Aaron.

 _Hey, Nick! It was fun hanging out with Jace and them today. I'll see you tomorrow!_

At that moment, Nick had an idea. Immediately, he began typing out a message to Aaron.

 _Hey, no problem. There's something I want to talk to you about...promise not to tell the others though._

Nick pressed the enter key and the message was sent. For a few moments, Aaron remained offline, but soon enough he had seen the message and was typing out a response. Nick waited anxiously as he stared at the three dots as Aaron typed.

* * *

 _Here's the update, as promised. This will most likely by my last update of 2018, but don't quote me on that. -Prince_


	11. Chapter 11 - Game Plan

The next day, Nick waited impatiently for Aaron to arrive at school. He didn't know where Aaron would enter from, so he waited at the front entrance as a default. In the foyer, Nick paced back and forth along the glass wall facing toward the front street, peering out every few seconds in hopes that he would see the wolf walking toward the building. Nick had to use one of the side doors to get inside, as Gideon and his group were seated at the concrete tables in the front lot. It was nothing against them, but he really didn't need that kind of distraction at the moment.

As the minutes ticked by, Nick was becoming irritated. In their messages, Aaron had promised him that he would be at the school by eight-thirty. Eight-thirty came and went, and there was still no sign of him. Nick growled to himself as he glanced out the window once more. A few minutes later, the warning bell rang, and students began filing through the foyer from the cafeteria on their way to class. The groups were large at first but quickly slowed to a trickle. As the last of the students walked past him, Nick rolled his eyes and picked up his bag from the bench he had placed it on.

Out of the corner of his eye, Nick saw one last figure round the corner. He glanced over his shoulder to see the mammal of the hour, Aaron, wearing a pair of dark sunglasses and holding a drink in his free paw. The other was holding his phone to his head, and he was talking rather enthusiastically to whomever was on the other end of the line. Nick furrowed his brow. Nick threw his bag over his shoulder and began marching toward Aaron. Aaron saw the fox approaching him and was quick to end his call.

"Okay, I gotta go now. Talk to you after school, kay?" he said before hitting the 'end call' button on the screen. He quickly shoved the device and his sunglasses into one of his pockets and took a sip from the drink he was holding. Nick placed his paws on his hips and glared. Aaron inhaled sharply and placed a paw on his chest. "I am so, deeply, incredibly sorry... but I was offered coffee... and I just couldn't say no to coffee," Aaron argued. Nick did not falter. Aaron extended the beverage toward Nick. "Wanna try? It's a caramel frappuccino," Aaron added in a singsong voice. Nick, again, didn't falter.

"You were late... because of coffee?" Nick asked. Aaron scoffed.

"Yeah. I'm just a bit late, is all."

"Ah, I see. Regardless, I don't wanna risk anything so you'd better not mind skipping first period," Nick said sternly. Aaron shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh, I don't mind at all," Aaron replied. Nick nodded, satisfied.

"Good. Let's go to the caf then, yeah?" Nick asked. Aaron nodded.

Nick and Aaron departed the entrance hallway and made the short trek to the cafeteria. It was a good place to have a conversation while classes were going, as most of the students who hung out in there were gone. Nick and Aaron chose a table farthest away from the hallways, lessening their chance of being seen or overheard. Once they were certain that they were alone, Nick broke the ice.

"Okay, so... I talked with Jack and Judy yesterday, and they told me of their little issue between your band and themselves." Aaron gasped, and his eyes widened.

"Oh dear. Yes, I know what you're talking about." Aaron stated before lifting a paw to his face. He gave an exasperated sigh before returning his gaze toward Nick. "It was such a stupid conflict," he added. Nick nodded in agreement.

"Clearly. What else do you know about it, because Jack and Judy told me quite a bit," Nick asked. Aaron thought for a moment before shrugging his shoulders.

"They vote kicked them from the band, and now there are unnecessary tensions between them because they didn't meet up afterwards?" Aaron asked timidly. Nick's eyes widened slightly.

 _They didn't tell him_

Nick leaned in closer to Aaron, prompting Aaron to do the same. Nick beckoned Aaron closer and closer until their heads were mere inches apart. Aaron picked up the signal and turned his head one way, allowing Nick to lean in just a bit more.

"To those who ask, the members in your band are stating the reason for Jack and Judy's departure is not because of a petty argument over action before consultation, but because they were found out to be anti-predator," Nick said, just above a whisper. The exchange may have been overkill seeing that the room was still empty, but there was absolutely no possible way for anyone to hear them if they did it that way. Aaron returned to his seat slowly, covering his mouth with a paw. He was speechless. "Sounds crazy, right? I didn't believe it either."

"That. Is. Absolutely not what happened!" Aaron exclaimed, leaping from his seat. Nick reached up to Aaron and placed a finger over his mouth to shush him. He held his finger there until they were both seated once more.

"I'm surprised, honestly. I thought you would have known. But then again, I'm sure you would have acted had you known," Nick said. Aaron crossed his arms, frustrated.

"I even remember bringing up the whole fiasco the next week, and they literally told me not to worry about it," Aaron stated. He rolled his eyes. "Well I guess I have to worry about it now, I feel like such an idiot after being lied to like that." Nick waited a moment to respond.

"Yeah... Hey, I'm no happier about this than you are, but maybe there's something we can do about it," Nick suggested. Aaron looked up from the table, intrigued.

"Yeah, like?" Aaron asked. Nick smirked.

"Well, I have you on board, right?" Nick asked. Aaron confirmed by nodding his head. "Good. What I was thinking is: you and I convince Jack and Judy to confront them directly. It'll be four against five, but I'm sure the tales they've spun will quickly collapse once pressured enough." Nick paused. "You still in?" Aaron remained unmoved in his seat for a few minutes. He spent his time pondering the pros and cons of pressuring his band-mates and how it could affect him. Finally, after his deliberation Aaron sat straight in his chair.

"I suppose it can only go up from here, right? Fine. I'll do it." Nick smiled. He reached across the table and gripped Aaron's paw in his own, giving it a firm shake. Aaron, who was caught off guard by the sudden contact, jumped in his seat. Once Nick let go, he slowly retracted his arm, rubbing it with his other paw and blushing softly.

"Excellent! Now...we just have to get Jack and Judy on board with us. That'll be the tough part." Nick stated. Aaron raised an eyebrow.

"And how, exactly, will you do that? Those two are pretty stubborn as far as my knowledge goes," Aaron cautioned. Nick nodded.

"Don't worry about it too much. I'm thinking we get together after school and have at it then. I'll ask them to meet by Smoker's. As for you," Nick pointed directly at Aaron. "I suggest waiting a few minutes after dismissal before heading there. Going off of what happened yesterday, I want to be able to stop any attempt at fleeing."

"Alright, gotcha," Aaron replied.

With that, the bell signalling the end of first period went off. Nick and Aaron left the table in the corner and went their separate ways. Nick was going to spend his spare in the library catching up on missed time from first, while Aaron was headed to the music room to spend the period with his band. Only this time, he would have to try not to act differently around them now that he knew what they've been keeping from him.

* * *

 _Well, the long awaited (maybe) update has arrived. I'm gonna be trying out a shorter chapter model for now to try and get back into the swing of things after my month off. I hope those who've been waiting aren't too disappointed with this one -Prince_


	12. Chapter 12 - Can I Ask a Favor?

The rest of the day had gone by without an issue. During their math lesson, Nick had spent the period with Jack and Judy again. Nearing the end of the period, Nick had asked Jack for more assistance with his work. Jack, although a little annoyed, had agreed to invite Nick over to provide help once again. Nick had asked them to meet at the same spot as the day before, and after they agreed, the bell rang. Nick bid them farewell and left the room as quickly as he could. With the meeting place and times set, Nick's plan could finally be set in motion.

Nick left his fourth period class and made his way down the hallway toward the northern stairwell. Nick was quick about it, as there was about to be a flurry of students coming from their classes all trying to leave at once. Nick stood to the right of the doors, out of the way as not to get swarmed. As expected, a wave of students filled the stairwell and the landing below it. Even with three doors, the crowd could move no faster than a crawl.

After the last few students forced their way through the doors, Nick found himself alone. He glanced to the stairwell to see Jack and Judy descending casually. Jack looked down to see Nick standing next to the doorway. He cracked a smile.

"Ah, you survived the stampede. Good," he said jokingly. Nick shrugged his shoulders and left his place on the wall.

"Turns out if you stand next to the doors they can't getcha," Nick replied, returning the smile. The three stood next to the door for a few minutes, catching up and telling each other about their afternoons. Judy was complaining, as her fourth period teacher had just assigned her class a semester-long study project that was worth thirty percent of her final mark. Jack and Nick felt sympathy for her, as she had that, as well as her whole student government job. A few more minutes of conversation and, just like Nick had asked, Aaron showed up.

Nick had seen Aaron approach their group. Jack and Judy were in the middle of a conversation and Nick had to keep a straight face. It was definitely easier said than done, as Aaron didn't know what to do. He simply stood behind the two bunnies with his paws in his pockets occasionally making eye contact with Nick. Once they were finished their conversation, Nick was finally able to stop ignoring Aaron.

"Oh, hey Aaron," Nick said nonchalantly. The Hopps' eyes widened and they slowly turned around. Aaron towered over the two rabbits as they looked up to meet his eyes. He gave a light wave. Jack and Judy returned to Nick, both wearing a surprised expression. They stared at Nick expectantly. "Oh, I sort of told Aaron that you could help him with his work as well...Would that be alright?" Nick asked. Jack looked at the wolf over his shoulder.

"I... don't see why not?" Jack said. Nick smiled.

"Good!" Nick replied happily _At least he didn't try to book it this time..._ "Should we go?" he added.

They all exchanged glances before nodding in agreement. There was no sense in staying at school, after all. They left the building and started down the path to the sidewalk. As soon as they approached the road however, they heard the honk of a horn coming from across the walkway. Nick looked up and immediately recognized the vehicle. Before he could say anything, the driver rolled down the window and revealed himself to be Nick's father.

"Hey, Nick! Are these your friends?" he shouted. Nick sighed.

"Hey, Dad. What are you doing here, and yeah." he replied. David shot Aaron, Jack, and Judy a toothy grin.

"Well it's good to meet you. It's a shame we won't be able to get to know each other better," he added. Nick blinked.

"You still never answered my question, we were kind of on our way somewhere," Nick stated. David thought for a moment.

"Oh, right! Well, whatever it was you were gonna do, it's gonna have to wait till another time because I need you to come with me," David said. Nick was shocked, his eyes widened.

"Uh, why?" Nick asked sternly.

"Because I'm taking you to get your phone. We're gonna be working long hours starting next week what with the harvest, so I wanted to get this out of the way right now," David explained. Nick tried to think up an argument to his father's point, but decided it wasn't worth wasting everyone's time.

"Alright, just give me a few seconds," Nick replied. He glanced over toward Aaron. The plan that they had come up with was beginning to fall apart, but it wasn't over yet. The look in Aaron's eyes told Nick that he was still prepared to do his part. Nick and Aaron held eye contact for a moment before Nick walked around the car and got into the passenger seat. "You'll be fine on your own, right Aaron?" Nick called through the still open driver side window.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be?" Aaron replied.

"I guess that means I'll get your number tomorrow?" Jack asked. Nick nodded. The three watched as the car pulled away from the curb and took a right at the end of the street. Aaron glanced down at Jack and Judy. He was now tasked with doing what he and Nick had originally planned to do. He took a shaky breath in and sighed lightly.

"So are you still coming over?" Jack asked. The sudden question caused Aaron to jump.

"Oh, uh, yes," he replied. Jack nodded.

"Right, let's go then," Jack said.

They departed their spot in the street and began the trek to the Hopps den. Aaron had been there before, it was where he had his first practice, as well as every session during the summer months. He knew the Hopps parents, as well as many of the children. He was well liked there, but this was the first time he'd be coming over while not in the company of his bandmates.

No conversation occurred between them as they walked through town and down the long dirt road to the den. As they approached the lot, Aaron could farm equipment moving across one of the fields. He remembered that harvest season had just kicked off, meaning that the den would be emptier than usual. Aaron followed Jack and Judy across the driveway and into the garage. He continued through the second door and down the long staircase to the main hall. From there he would usually turn right, to where all the instruments and other equipment were set up in a large room, but he followed the two rabbits in the opposite direction, where he had never been.

Eventually they had stopped in front of one of many identical doors in that corridor. As Jack opened it, Aaron thought to himself as to how he remembered which door led where. Once everyone was inside, Jack closed the door behind him. Judy sat at the desk in the corner while Jack sat on the bed.

"Alright, what do you need help with?" Jack asked. Aaron was confused for a moment, but then remembered that help with schoolwork was his excuse for even being there in the first place. He didn't actually need help with his math, he was actually quite proficient, but in order to even bring up the topic of his band he would have to settle down with them first. Aaron sat down on the floor and pulled a notebook and some papers from his bag.

"Just a few questions from the handout. I need a bit of clarification," Aaron replied. Jack raised an eyebrow.

"That's it? Couldn't you have just asked the teacher?" Jack asked.

"It was already the end of the class, I didn't have time," Aaron rebutted. Jack crossed his arms

"Well you could've," Jack paused before sighing. "Know what? Never mind. Show me the problems," Jack stated, pointing at the papers. Aaron turned around and handed the papers to Jack. After skimming the page, Jack beckoned Aaron with his paw and patting the empty space on the bed to his right. Jack pointed to the page. "Which ones?" he asked.

Aaron had already done all the work on the page, so he selected three random questions near the bottom of the page. Jack read them over and nodded in agreement.

"Ah yeah, those ones took a bit for me too," Jack added. Aaron fetched his notebook and a spare pencil from his bag and allowed Jack to walk him through the first problem. Although he already understood the process, Jack explained it in a way that allowed it to be solved much quicker. He was genuinely surprised.

The second and third questions were much easier once he learned Jack's method. Jack watched as Aaron ripped through the second question and started on the third. Jack smiled.

"Hey, looks like you got it now," Jack said approvingly. Aaron glanced over and nodded.

"Yeah, your way of doing it is so much better!" Aaron exclaimed.

"I've been told I have a knack for stuff like this. Whenever I learn something new I always see if there's a faster way to do it," Jack added. Aaron chuckled. He finished up the last part of the last question, closing the notebook once he was done.

"Done. Wow... that went by faster that I thought it would," Aaron added. Jack left the bed and walked over to the desk, where Judy was using the computer. He stood behind the chair and watched her over her shoulder.

"Be sure to forward this to Nick, alright?" Jack said.

After being so focused on the work, Aaron had nearly forgotten why he was there in the first place. He packed up his things but didn't pick up his bag. He walked over to the computer and joined Jack in standing behind Judy.

"I will...but there's something Nick wanted me to forward to you," Aaron said, trying his hardest to not let his voice shake. Jack and Judy stopped looking at the screen and glanced up at the wolf.

"What is it?" Jack asked. Aaron took a deep breath in to calm his nerves.

"Well...I heard, through Nick, about what my band has been saying about you guys..." Aaron said, trailing off near the end. Jack and Judy tensed up. Judy sighed and put her head down on the desk.

"Oh, good lord..." Jack said, followed by an exasperated sigh.

"Hey, hey, I'm not done!" Aaron said, raising his voice. "He also said that he wanted to see the end of it. He wanted us, all four of us, to go up to them and make them tell everyone they've lied to the truth." Jack rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah, that's totally gonna happen," Jack said sarcastically.

"It will, we need you to come with us," Aaron argued.

"All that's gonna do is cause more conflict, Aaron," Judy added. Aaron crossed his arms and shook his head.

"No it won't, especially not with Nick there." Jack and Judy remained silent. "Come on, guys. I'm sure you want this to end as much as Nick and I do," Aaron added, practically begging. Jack went deep into thought on Aaron's proposition.

"I don't know, won't this affect you negatively? Once they know you know what they've been saying about us, won't they kick you out?" Jack asked. It was Aaron's turn to think.

"If that's the case, then I don't care, as long as it stops. I don't want to be in a band with a bunch of liars. Besides, if they do kick me out for this, what are they gonna tell everyone? It would seem kind of hypocritical of them to kick a predator out of their band after calling you guys anti-pred, wouldn't it?" Aaron asked. Jack and Judy tried to argue Aaron's question, but their minds drew a blank.

"I guess so," was all they could say. Aaron nodded and extended a paw.

"So whaddaya say? You in?" he asked. Jack and Judy exchanged glances before nodding. They placed their paws on top of Aaron's.

"We're in," they said in unison.

* * *

The drive to the service provider was a short one; it was only a few blocks away from the school. David pulled the car up to the curb of the store. Nick looked out the car window to the large sign above the door. It read: 'Rick's Electronics.' Beneath it, in smaller print: 'Authorized _Rogers_ Retailer.'

"You ready to go phone shopping, Nick?" David asked. Nick rolled his eyes as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Sure thing, Dad," he replied.

* * *

 _Here's chapter twelve, a tad longer than chapter eleven. Thanks to everyone who as left feedback/a review, and to those who have followed/faved. It tells me that I'm improving.-Prince_


	13. Chapter 13 - Communication

Nick and David exited the vehicle at the same time. He waited for his father to walk around the front of the car before they both headed toward the store's entrance. David pulled the door open and gestured for Nick to go inside ahead of him. As soon has he entered the store, he was hit with a wave of cool air from the air conditioner. Lining the walls were multiple tables displaying electronics of different sorts. Smartphones of all sorts, TVs of all sizes, as well as accessories for them all. Nick marvelled at the sight as his father entered the store behind him.

Behind the counter at the back of the store was a tall brown rabbit. He wore a polo with the business's name printed across the chest and a pair of thick glasses rested upon the bridge of his nose. As the two foxes approached him, he glanced up from the monitor below the counter and gave them a friendly wave.

"Afternoon, gentlemen! How can I help you?" he asked with a smile. David approached the counter and placed his forearms on the surface.

"My son here needs a phone, think you could help us out?" David asked politely. The rabbit left his spot behind the counter and and stopped in front of Nick.

"Of course! You know what you're looking for, young man?" the rabbit asked. Nick glanced at the wall of phones behind him to his right and shook his head.

"Nope, I'm not well versed in phones," Nick replied. The rabbit lifted a paw to his chin and thought for a moment. He turned to face David, who was watching with his paws in his pockets.

"No matter, we'll figure it out. What's your budget?" he asked.

"Hmm... I guess it's not a problem how much, I mean, we are getting a contract as well," David replied. The rabbit's smile returned and he began walking toward one of the displays. Nick and David followed close behind.

"So I suppose you must be Rick then?" David asked. The rabbit shook his head.

"Nope, that would be my grandpa, he opened this store a ways back to sell radios. Over the years we evolved to fit local demand until we were approached by Rogers, then we became a reseller. My name's Jon, by the way," he replied. Jon stopped in front of one of the more flashy displays.

"Well, Jon, what have you got for us?" David asked. Jon removed the device from its display case and held it up for them both to see. The device was on the larger side and was playing a demo video. The intrusive display notch is what caught Nick's eye, but the dynamic colour the video had while playing is what kept his gaze on it.

"If money is no barrier, then I definitely recommend Apple's newest flagship, the iPhone XS Max. This device improves upon everything Apple has done last year with their iPhone X. The phone possesses a 6.5 inch OLED display for excellent colour reproduction. It has a dual camera setup on the rear that takes stunning photos, and has a premium feel with a glass and steel construction, and features such as FaceID and wireless charging," he explained. Jon handed the demo model over to Nick to hold.

Nick rotated the device in his paw, looking at it from all different angles. As soon as he tapped the screen, the demo video disappeared and he was greeted with the home screen. He scrolled left and right across the screen before opening the phone's camera. The image of the floor below it was displayed with high clarity.

"How do I go back?" Nick asked, trying to find the home button. In his struggle he accidentally hit the sleep button and the screen turned off.

"Just swipe up from the bottom. Also, swipe up and hold to show what's running, and then swipe left or right afterwards to close," Jon replied. Nick followed his instructions and found himself back on the home screen. He gave the device one last look before handing it back to Jon.

"I like it, but it's a little big, don't you think?" he asked. Jon thought for a moment as he returned the device to its display case. He then removed the device that was one to the left, an identical, but smaller device.

"For folks like you there's the XS. Does everything the XS Max does, just in a smaller, 5.8 inch package," he replied, handing the device to Nick.

The phone felt much better in his paws, as he didn't need to reach as far to perform certain actions. He smiled. Nick turned to his father.

"I think this is the one," he stated. David returned the smile.

"Well that was quick, especially since you were against the whole idea in the first place. If that's really what you want, then lets head back to the counter, shall we?" David replied. Nick handed the demo unit back to Jon, who then replaced it into its display case. The three walked back to the counter, Jon returning to his spot behind it.

"Last question, what colour?" Jon asked. "There's black, white, and gold."

"I think I'll go with white," Nick replied. Jon nodded and pulled a box out from behind the counter, placing it in front of the two foxes. He opened the box and removed the device.

"Let me just set it up for you, alright?" Jon asked. Nick and David both nodded as they watched Jon go through the setup process. He navigated through the setup menu for what was probably the millionth time, even doing some parts without looking at the screen. He produced a SIM card from behind the counter and took his time to insert it into the SIM tray properly. Once he was done, he handed the device, as well as the box, off to Nick.

David paid their fees and they both started toward the exit, both sending Jon a wave goodbye. David had simply added Nick's line to his own, reducing the overall cost of the plan, but that still didn't stop the device from costing four hundred fifty dollars at activation. When they learned how expensive the device actually is, they were glad to be getting such a steep discount. They got back into the car and David started the engine. As they pulled away from the curb, Nick stared at the device in his hands. He didn't take his eyes off it the entire way home.

The first thing Nick did when they arrived was connect the device to Wi-Fi. He rushed up the stairs to his room while typing the Wi-Fi passcode into his device. He sat down at his computer desk, placing the phone to the right of his keyboard. He logged on to his desktop and opened his browser. He glanced down at the device on his mousepad. He would have to get used to owning it always being in his peripheral. Nick opened his messenger and began typing out his phone number. The first mammal he sent it to was Aaron. Following shortly after was Jack, and finally, Judy. He waited for a response from any of them, but received none. He sighed.

"They'll get it tomorrow," he said, closing his messenger. "I hope Aaron made out okay," he added.

As the late afternoon passed, and after Nick had shown the new phone to his mother at the dinner table, Nick received his first ever text message; it was from Aaron.

 _Hey, it's Aaron_

Nick typed out his response.

 _You're the first to text me back_

Nick waited a few seconds before sending his next message

 _How'd it go?_

Aaron replied quickly

 _They're on board. We'll talk about it tomorrow during lunch._

Nick's heart skipped a beat. He was surprised that his plan had gotten to this stage.

 _Sweet. See you tomorrow._

Nick set his phone down on his desk. He let out a shaky breath and thought about the day he had ahead of him.

* * *

 _The first cellphone is a turning point for everyone. Let's see how this affects Nick. -Prince_


	14. Chapter 14 - Good Morning, Bunnyburrow

As he lay in bed, the possible outcomes of tomorrow's confrontation tormented Nick to no end. He stared blankly at his bedroom ceiling allowing different scenarios to play through his mind. His imagination was indiscriminate; some gave him desirable results, while others tested his ability to keep his composure. He occasionally rolled over and reached for his phone, which was sitting on the nightstand to his right. He held it above him and stared into the colourful display, watching the icons appear and disappear with each swipe left or right. After sufficient fiddling, he would set the device back down before rolling back over and attempting to sleep again.

The cycle continued throughout the night, and Nick slept on and off the whole time. Finally, at around five in the morning, Nick gave up trying to sleep. His alarm was set to go off in an hour, and sunlight was already peering through his curtains. With a frustrated groan, Nick sat up in his bed and grabbed his phone once again. He hastily checked Messenger, hoping that one of them would be online; none of them were. Nick rolled his eyes.

"Of course they're still sleeping, you idiot. They're not paranoid like you are all the time," Nick said aloud. He closed the app with a swipe and turned to his other social media. With his ownership of a smartphone, Nick finally had an excuse to use the accounts he created all those years ago. Besides Messenger, the other two apps on his home screen were Instagram and Snapchat. He had little idea how these two apps worked, and both accounts were created at the request of his friend Finnick. Nick attempted to use his Instagram account, but he found the desktop version so different from the mobile version on his friends phones that he abandoned it. With Snapchat, he couldn't even use it since it was moblie only. Finnick had to lend Nick his phone to make the account. Since Nick was now in possession of a smartphone, he could finally see what all the fuss with these two apps were.

He opened Instagram first. His timeline was rather empty, he was only following a couple of mammals from his old school. He scrolled through, recognizing many of the faces he saw. He sighed. _I wonder what they're up to,_ he thought. He then checked the notification tab. The tab was filled with follow notifications from Aaron, Jack, Judy, and some other mammals from his new school. He counted about ten new followers.

This prompted him to check his profile page. This part of the app showcased how little time he spent on the app. The profile picture was outdated, the bio was empty, he had few posts. Scrolling through the ten or so posts he'd made the age of the account hit him. Each of the posts was made when he was in the ninth grade. Each photo was taken from a rear-facing smartphone camera and sent to him through Messenger. The photos were of poor quality, and paired with his young age, Nick was tempted to delete them all. However, those pictures were memories of him and his old life, and to be rid of them would prove difficult, so Nick let them be.

Nick left his bed and opened his curtains. The sunlight momentarily blinded him, but he was soon greeted with a deep red sky in front of the rising sun. Nick marveled at the sight before him, eyes wide with wonder. Without thinking, Nick grabbed his phone and opened his window. He climbed through it and onto the roof above. He cautiously scaled the shingles until reaching the very top where sides met. He inched closer to the edge and lifted his phone over his head, just over the tree line.

A perfect shot. A beautiful picture of the sunrise with rays of red light shooting off in all directions across the horizon. That alone was enough to be postcard worthy, but the countryside scenery with the large open fields and houses in the distance added even more worth to the piece. Nick stared at the picture he had just taken.

"Quite the piece of hardware, isn't it?" he said, observing the phone in his paw. Nick made his way down from the roof and back into his room. He sat down on his bed and took another look at the picture he had taken. In a spur of the moment decision, Nick returned to his Instagram account and began creating a new post. He selected his image and played with the colours for a bit. After finding a filter he liked, he was tasked with coming up with a caption for the image. He huffed and began thinking. He always thought having some kind of caption with a picture was rather tacky, but he shrugged the thought away and continued. He eventually decided on something simple. He selected his location and typed in the phrase 'Good Morning Bunnyburrow' before hitting the finish button. He placed his phone back on the nightstand and left the room.

After showering, getting dressed, and grabbing his bag, he made his way to the ground floor. With no sounds coming from the kitchen or the living room, it had occurred to him that his parents were already out working. He checked the time on his phone before deciding that he would walk to school himself. He texted his father notifying him of his departure and opened the front door. He waited for a response until he reached the end of his driveway before he put the device in his pocket. _I'll probably get an answer later, they must be busy with work at the moment,_ he thought.

The lonesome stretch of road that separated him from the majority of Bunnyburrow was a calming one. The distant sounds of farm equipment and bird calls created a unique melody unheard previously by Nick. It encouraged him to remain silent and dwell on his thoughts, specifically those of the recent drama in his life. The more he thought about it, the more conflicted he became.

 _What happened to Aaron was inexcusable and they need to be called out on it, and they lied about what happened to everyone else on top of that. But is it really my place to be headlining this whole thing? I barely know these mammals. The small time frame between all of us meeting is negligible at best. Are we even in the right?_ "Ugh, why did I have get involved? Why didn't I keep my maw shut?" Nick growled. He continued his walk to school, now sporting a dampened mood.

Halfway down the long country road, Nick had decided to try and lift his spirits with some music. He produced the small pair of earbuds his phone came with and plugged them in. He scrolled through his lengthy Spotify library in search of something specific. Dire Straits always had a knack of cheering him up; a small grin appeared on his face as he heard the opening beats to Sultans of Swing. Not soon after that, he really began to feel the sun's energy warming him up. With a cloudless sky and temperatures already in the low twenties, it was gearing up to be another hot one.

As the big solo was playing through, Nick caught himself tapping along to the sound of the guitar. He lifted his head to see that he was a lot closer to town than he thought he'd be at this point. He was so into his music that he'd lost track of time, and it felt like he'd arrived in the blink of an eye. The song finally ended and Nick came back down to from his little high. He removed his earbuds now that he was in town and continued in the direction of the school building.

As he traveled the sidewalks, he glanced into the windows of the small shops and businesses that lined the main road. Each one was either still closed, or just opening up. It amazed Nick that the vast majority of Bunnyburrow residents made their livelihoods either running small businesses like these or working out in the fields. It was a complete reversal of what life was like back in Zootopia, where mammals all spent their days in a cubicle in one of the city's thousand office towers. As Nick passed another shop, he was able to make out the the familiar logo of Starbucks printed on the inside wall. He stopped and glanced at the small lineup of mammals on the inside of the store. His eyes narrowed as he saw-

"Aaron?" he said out loud.

Nick entered the store, not taking his eyes off the tall, black wolf at the front of the line. He marched past everyone else and tugged at the wolf's shirt.

"Aaron?" he asked again. He turned his head and looked down at Nick, his ice blue eyes glinted in the light.

"Nick? I didn't know you liked coffee," Aaron replied with a smile.

"I usually don't, but I saw what I thought was you through the window and thought I'd come see if I was right," Nick explained as he placed his paws in his pockets. Aaron chuckled.

"Well, right you were. Want anything? I'm just about to finish my order," Aaron asked.

Nick pondered Aaron's offer. "I don't know, I've never actually bought anything from-"

"My treat~" Aaron pleaded. Nick's ears peaked and his eyes widened. After a moment of silence, he sighed,

"I suppose I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Aaron shook his head.

"Nah."

"Alright, but only on the condition that you pick something for me. Like I said, I don't know anything about this place." Aaron nodded.

"Gotcha," he said, before he turned to face the barista behind the counter. Nick didn't pay attention to what Aaron told the barista, but before long, the two of them were out of the shop and headed to school, each with a cup in their paws. Nick observed the cup in his paw, rotating it in all directions trying to figure out what it was. He also saw that his name was on the side of the cup with a little smiley face next to it.

"What is this?" Nick asked. Aaron glanced down at him.

"It's just a caramel frapp. Simple." Nick nodded as he took a drink. He had expected it to be bitter, but it was quite the opposite. The taste of caramel and whipped cream completely overpowered any bitterness the drink might have had.

"What did you get?" Nick asked. Aaron glanced up from his phone.

"Oh, it's just a grande iced sugar-free vanilla latte. Wanna try?" Aaron asked as he shook the cup lightly.

"A what?" Nick asked, raising an eyebrow. Aaron chuckled.

"Right, you don't know what any of that means, huh. Well, it's an iced latte, with vanilla and no sugar. Grande is just Starbucks for medium. Although he was still confused, Nick nodded to make it seem like he understood. The two of them walked in silence, slowly sipping their drinks as they approached the school. When the building came into view, he suddenly remembered what he had to do today. He quickly pulled his phone from his pocket and texted Jack and Judy the same message separately.

 _Can we expedite our meeting? I don't want to have to wait until after school to discuss details._

As Nick hastily typed out his message, Aaron caught a glimpse of the device in Nick's paws. The sheen of the glass and the trademark notch in the display indicated one thing to Aaron. It caused him to nearly choke on his drink.

"Is that the new iPhone? Can I hold it?" Aaron shouted. Nick held the device in front of him once more, allowing Aaron to get a better look at it. The white glass on the back of the phone shone brightly in the sunlight, while the inky black of the front display made for a nice contrast.

"Yeah, I guess, Here." Nick passed the device over to Aaron who marveled at the phone in his paws.

"It's so pretty... Beats my old 7 Plus by a longshot," Aaron replied, passing the device back to Nick.

"It is pretty nice, but it cost us a pretty penny that's for sure. Four hundred dollar down payment," Nick added. "Speaking of phones, I just texted Jack and Judy. I just told them I wanted to move the meeting to as soon as possible. I want to put this whole thing behind me and get on with my life. I didn't even sleep last night because I was up thinking about it." Aaron thought for a moment.

"Ah, I guess we could. I don't mind skipping class. Thanks for reminding me, by the way. I almost forgot," Aaron added. Nick's eyes widened.

"How did you almost forget? You're at the center of this whole thing!" Nick shouted. Aaron shrugged his shoulders.

"Let me finish my coffee first, Nick," Aaron said with a wink. Nick rolled his eyes.

As the two entered the school building, Nick felt a vibration coming from his pocket. He held the device in front of him and watched it unlock. It was a text from Jack

 _Sure. Can't have it in the caf because of proximity to music room. I have a key to the old chemistry room. Nobody goes in there so there's no chance of disturbances._

"Sweet," Nick said under his breath. "Hey Aaron, do you know where the 'old chemistry room' is?"

* * *

 _Surprise! I'm not dead. Almost, but not quite. Took a """""short""""" break because I burnt myself out with school near the end of the year. Now that's done, I took some time to enjoy the beginning of my summer. I had to look up Starbucks drink names because I never go there. -Prince_


	15. Chapter 15 - About That

Aaron led Nick up to the second floor and down the long hallway. Students were bunching up at their lockers, all trying to grab their materials before heading to class. They dodged and weaved through the crowds of students, being sure not to accidentally knock one of them over as they crossed. Finally, they stopped in front of one of the hallway's green doors. On the door was the number '210' and the word 'Chemistry.' The print on both were chipped and faded. Nick raised an eyebrow.

" _This_ is where Jack wants to hold this meeting? It's in the middle of the building!" He argued. Aaron shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess. You can ask him why he chose this spot when he gets here." Aaron lifted his head to look down the hallway. At the other end, he saw the entirety of the Hopps clan turn the corner. Nick turned around when he caught sight of Aaron's gaze. At the front of the pack were Aaron's bandmates, Jace and Joyce.

"Aaron, practice tonight at our house, yeah?" Asked Jace as he passed by. The sudden mention of him cause his heart to skip a beat.

"Oh, yeah I'll be there," Aaron replied. Right behind the other two were Jessie, wearing headphones, Jake, staring at his cellphone, and Jayden, walking silently with his paws in the pocket of his sweatshirt. Trailing further behind were Jack and Judy. They made sure none of their siblings were looking behind before they ran up to meet the others.

"Morning. You wanted to talk now, Nick?" Jack said, producing a small key from his pocket. Nick nodded.

"Morning. Yeah, but I want a few things cleared up beforehand," Nick said.

Jack unlocked the door and ushered everyone inside. "Like?"

The inside of the room felt like it was in a completely different building. The colour of the walls as well as the layer of dust on the counter tops indicated clearly that the room hadn't been used for an actual class in years. The blinds at the back of the room were drawn, as well as discoloured due to UV damage from years of sunlight hitting them. Regardless, there were still stools behind the tables and rows of books on the shelves.

"How'd you get a hold of this key? And how do you know we won't get in trouble for being in here?" Jack hopped onto the large counter at the front of the classroom and sat down.

"Well, the key for the room was on the floor in one of the supply rooms at the other end of the school. The guidance counselor sent me to get more printer paper and it was sat in one of the corners. And to answer your other question: I've been coming here for years and I haven't been caught once. As long as we stay on or behind this counter, nobody can see us," Jack explained. Nick attempted to find fault in Jack's explanation, but he conceded with a sigh.

"Guess you've got it all figured out then, huh," Nick said, taking a seat next to Jack.

"Yup. Now, you wanted to talk about our little operation right? What's on your mind, fox?" Jack said. Nick remained silent for a moment as he tried to string sentences together in his head. He didn't want to overwhelm everyone with his emotions, and he wanted to be as clear as concise as possible. Speaking slowly, Nick voiced his sentiments.

"I think we should do this after school today. I want to be able to put this whole... event behind us as quickly as possible." The room remained silent while the others exchanged looks.

"That's fine, but why so eager?" asked Jack. Nick was hoping that nobody would press further, but it looked like he would have to get personal after all.

"Am I in the right for doing this? It's family drama right? Is it wrong for me to want to help you?" Nick asked. His sudden shift in tone and the look in his eyes caught everyone off guard.

"Of course not!" shouted Aaron. "I'm grateful that you're helping us sort this out."

"I agree. If not for you, Jack and I certainly wouldn't have pressed the issue." added Judy.

"To be fair, it stopped being a family thing as soon as Aaron got involved. Besides, my own siblings aren't immune from criticism for their hypocrisy. If tonight's the night I'm all for it, but lets talk strategy before we bust into their room and start hurling accusations at them," Jack concluded. Nick's expression lifted.

"Thanks guys, and Jack's right. We need an actual plan." Aaron didn't hesitate to speak up.

"Hey, I have practice tonight, so I'll already be in there," he said.

"We know that, so you should try to prime them for our entry. Would you be able to start a discussion about the previous event?" asked Jack.

"I could, but what do I say? I'm sure I can't just say 'hey why did you shaft Jack and Judy and lie to everyone else to save face' you know."

"Maybe not, but you can tell them that you're still uneasy over the fact that two members were kicked at your first practice," Judy suggested. Aaron raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Isn't that like saying the same thing?"

"It's like asking 'why did you shaft Jack and Judy' without the other part. The second half of the question will be answered once everyone's in there," Jack replied. "Y'know, _ease into it_." Aaron took mental note of Jack's advice and pressed further.

"When will y'all be coming in? Like, how will you guys know when things are escalating? You just gonna camp outside the door, or?" Aaron asked. Jack looked around the room before shrugging his shoulders.

"I was kind of banking on you texting us or something," Jack admitted. Aaron rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah, it totally won't look sus if I pull out my phone mid-argument like 'hold on guys lemme just answer this text real quick.' No offense, Jack, but have you anything a bit more clever than that?" Jack furrowed his brows and lifted a paw to his face.

"Yeah, I guess that's not a good strategy, is it." Nick lifted his arm to cut in. Once everyone was looking his way, he lowered it and spoke up.

"A few days ago when I first met the rest of your siblings, they said I should catch a practice sometime to hear Aaron's 'godlike' voice. Later today, Aaron can invite me to the practice and we'll have two of us in there. I can be the one to send the text," explained Nick.

Judy chimed in. "That's a great idea!" Aaron nodded in agreement

"And, best of all, they don't suspect you. It's perfect!" Nick smiled.

"Thanks, guys, this helped calm me down. This is all I really wanted to have a talk about; I don't think we should think too much about the actual event of arguing with them and just wing it. We already know that we're in the right so there would be no use discussing their side again," Nick concluded. Jack nodded.

"Perfect."

"All that needs to happen now is to wait until school ends and rehearsal begins," Judy added. Jack hopped of the counter and checked the time on his phone. Seeing that it was nearly ten, he put the phone back into his pocket and notified the rest of the group.

"First period should be over real soon, so I guess we'll meet again at three?" he said as he opened the door. He glanced down the hallway in both directions before motioning everyone out of the room. He re-locked the door and put the key away in his pocket.

"Briefly, because we have to leave with the others." Aaron said. Jack nodded.

"Right. Smokers?" Aaron nodded to confirm. "Awesome. See ya," said Jack as he and Judy left toward the stairwell. Moments later, the first bell rang, indicating the end of first period. Nick and Aaron looked at each other.

"So... music room?" Nick asked.

"Music room," Aaron repeated. They both smiled as they followed Jack and Judy down the hallway.

…

Since his time in the chemistry room with the others, Nick had felt better. He was able to focus on the day's work as well as keep a chipper attitude. During second period, Aaron talked with his bandmates and secured him an invite to the practice. As soon as he left the classroom, Nick sent a text to Jack and Judy informing them of the development. They were expectantly ecstatic. Their plan was falling into place.

The fourth bell echoed through the hallways and the students in their classes began packing up their things. It was the first weekend of the school year and they were eager to leave. While most students were able to go straight home and enjoy their Friday evening, Nick knew he had some affairs to attend to. Just like they had agreed on, all four mammals met at the door by the smoker's corner. When Nick arrived, Jack, Judy, and Aaron were already there.

"So? Everyone's ready for this now?" asked Judy. The rest nodded their heads yes.

"As ready as I can possibly be," replied Nick. They all exchanged glances before Aaron tapped Nick on the shoulder.

"We're waiting for them at the front," he said, pointing toward the foyer. "We'll see you two in a bit."

Nick waved his goodbyes and followed closely behind Aaron as they both walked to the front of the school. Is was a little crowded, as students were trying to make their way to the front doors or were staring out the large windows waiting for their rides home. Aaron pointed out an empty bench against one of the brick pillars and began heading toward it. After taking their seats, they both stared into the corner of the foyer where Aaron's bandmates would be arriving from. Even though they were sitting down, Nick was still at eye level with the bunnies of the school, and Aaron still had a good foot on them. After a short wait, the group turned the corner and Aaron stood up.

"Hey Aaron, it's not like you to wait for us. Usually it's the other way around," said Joyce. Aaron shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess I'm just excited for our first meetup of senior year. That, and we do have Nick with us. Wouldn't want to keep him waiting while you search around for me."

"That's fair. We don't have to stop anywhere else on the way home so we can just head straight there. Unless, of course, you need anything," Joyce added. Aaron shook his head.

"Everything's good on my end." Aaron glanced at Nick. He lifted his head as the words processed in his mind.

"Oh, don't worry about me, I'll be fine," Nick replied. Joyce smiled.

"Perfect! Home we go!"

The group waded through the crowd and made their way to the front door. The parking lot, as well as the road going through it, were packed with mammals and vehicles. After cautiously crossing it, they made it to the sidewalk and began walking back to the Hopps burrow. The first thirty seconds of the walk were rather quiet; nobody said a word. Joyce sensed the awkwardness that hung over the group and decided to do something about it. She pushed her way to the front of the group and turned around. While walking backwards, she addressed Nick.

"Hey Nick, I hope you're ready to experience what we've been telling you all week," she said with a smile. Nick raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"I should hope so, you guys've been hyping it up quite a bit."

"It will, so don't you worry," added Jace as he cut into the conversation. Nick rubbed his chin.

"Alright, alright. My expectations are getting pretty high now," Nick replied with a chuckle.

They continued conversing as they navigated through town. The topics ranged from continuing talking about expectations, not just for Nick, but for themselves. To their plans for the future of the group, where they become international sensations and tour the world. And finally, about drives and passions for making music. As they neared the burrow, Nick almost felt bad for what he was about to do to them, but that feeling of guilt was swept away when he remembered what they did to their bandmates; their own family.

The wooden garage came into view, and Nick's heart began beating faster. Everything that he had just heard the Hopps clan tell him would potentially become dust in the wind, as the exposure of the skeletons in their closet and pressure from those they tossed to the side would be too much all at once, causing a complete reevaluation of their actions and eventual apology, or a complete collapse of the group on a fundamental level. Nick didn't want to tear the relations between siblings to shreds, and he preferred the former to happen over the latter.

The group entered the garage, and Nick sent his first text message to Jack and Judy.

 _We're at the burrow._

A few seconds passed before their response.

 _We took a shortcut and got here earlier. We're just in my room. Just give us the green light and we'll be over within seconds._

Nick nodded as put the device away in his pocket and began descending the stairs into the main hall of the burrow. At the bottom, Jace and Joyce led the rest of the group down a wing of the burrow that he hadn't been down before. It was identical to the hallway leading to Jacks bedroom, but it was much shorter, and the doors were spread out further apart. Eventually they arrived at a door with a small plaque screwed into the upper middle half of it; the Hopps name etched into the surface of the metal.

Through the doorway was a large room, much larger than Nick had expected, filled with equipment one would typically find in a recording studio. Against the furthest wall was a guitar rack containing three guitars, at least one of which was a bass. In one of the corners, a rather complex looking drum kit, and against another wall were presumably hundreds of dollars worth of recording equipment. Finally, the entire room was covered in black sound dampening foam. Nick was shocked at how professional their entire operation seemed. If it told him anything, it was that they were dead set on making music their careers.

"This is...quite the setup. Goodness," Nick said, still in awe as he looked around the room. The group dispersed as they all headed toward their respective posts. Immediately, Jessie began playing a simple rhythm on her kit while Jayden took his seat next to the audio equipment. Nick, along with Aaron, walked further into the room. Aaron shot Nick a questioning glare. He returned with a reassuring one while mouthing the word 'go.' Aaron nodded and approached Jace, tapping him on the shoulder. Jace looked up from his instrument.

"Sup?" he asked. Aaron exhaled.

"I wasn't sure who to ask, but I figured since you're the leader here I'd ask you," Aaron said.

Jace nodded. "Kay, what is it?" Aaron knelt down to meet Jace's eyes.

"I know Joyce told me to stop asking and to not bring it up again, but if we're gonna continue with this project we should be transparent, and I feel like I am owed clarity on what happened at my first practice. It's been bothering me for the last while now." As much as Aaron tried to dance around the matter, Jace caught on to what he was asking. His eyes narrowed and the small grin on his face disappeared, replaced with a frown. He stood up straight and turned to Jessie.

"Could you cut that out for a sec?" he shouted. "What was that?" he whispered. Aaron wasn't surprised that Jace would pull the 'I couldn't quite hear you' trick when he was told something he didn't want to hear, but when he said that it was bothering him he was telling the truth, and his pent up frustration over the matter had gotten the best of him. Aaron followed suit and stood up straight.

"I want to know what happened to Jack and Judy. Word around town is that you kicked them out over a disagreement and then lied about them to everyone else!" Aaron growled. The rest of the Hopps clan stopped what they were doing to see Aaron staring down at Jace with a scowl. Nick was shocked that Aaron was so blunt after he stated that's specifically what he wanted to avoid. Jace stared up at Aaron in silence, his expression growing ever more sour.

"Well I don't know who you're talking to, but they're the one lying. They were kicked because of their spite for you. They're pred haters just like Isabelle, and there's no room for that in this group," Jace explained. Aaron raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"Is that right? Well I've been in contact with them and they were nice enough to tell me their side of the story which, get this, is much more believable than yours," Aaron returned.

"And just how are you gonna prove that? It's five against one." Joyce added, taking up residence next to her brother. Nick hurriedly reached for his phone and began typing out the message.

 _GET IN HERE NOW_

Within the second, a reply came in.

 _On our way._

Nick clutched his phone tightly in his paws as he approached the feuding bandmates.

"Make that two against five."

* * *

 _It seems I'm back into the swing of things and with that, I present chapter fifteen. I decided to get onto that confrontation I'd been hinting at for the past five chapters because surely by now you're sick of waiting. Next one will have most of the spice, I promise. -Prince_


	16. Chapter 16 - Sorted, Sort Of

As a response, the rest of the Hopps clan came into the center of the room and took their places next to Jace. All were staring up at the black wolf in front of them with neutral expressions except for Jace and Joyce, who were looking towards Nick. Aaron remained unmoved and returned their glares, hellbent on getting them to admit their faults. With Aaron by his side, Nick's confidence was boosted twofold.

"I see what's going on here. It's a setup," said Joyce, stepping forward toward Nick. "I knew I should have told you to stay away from them. They can't help but lie. It's all they can do." Nick crossed his arms and nodded.

"From what I've heard, you're the only one telling lies here," Nick replied.

The door to the room swung open and Jack and Judy entered the room. Everyone turned to look in their direction as they stood in the doorway.

"So, where do I start?" said Jack as he slowly began walking into the room. "You introduce a new member to the band without consulting everyone. Then, before we can fully process, you overreact and use the power of majority to have use ejected from the band. Now-"

Jace began to speak. "Hey, for starters," but was quickly silenced as Jack raised his voice further.

"You shut your fucking mouth and let me speak! You have a tendency to act before thinking, and you know what? This whole thing could have been avoided had you shut up for one fucking second." Jace stared daggers at Jack from across the room. "It would have been fine. We could have just talked it out afterward. By the time I had cooled off, I was notified by Judy that you guys had penned a lengthy Twitter feed denouncing us for being anti-pred, but only after you blocked both of us. Judy had to use a dummy account to see what you'd posted." Jace approached Jack with fists clenched.

"You were having a fucking fit! How was I supposed to deal with that?" Jace shouted. Jack shrugged his shoulders in an exaggerated manner.

"Uh, I don't know? Maybe wait? You act before thinking _and_ you have no patience! Oh yeah, Judy shouldn't even be a part of this. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Jack opened his mouth to reply, but he couldn't string two words together in his head. "Admit it. You have nothing against Judy." Jack demanded. Jack continued to stutter until he gave up.

"Alright, fine. I may have gone a bit overboard by kicking you both, but that doesn't excuse your behaviour," Jace replied. Jack snorted.

"So you admit that you lied about Jack and Judy," said Aaron, pointing at Jack. Joyce stepped in between them.

"This doesn't concern you, Aaron. It's a family thing, leave it to us," she said. Aaron was dumbfounded. Nick furrowed his brow

"I think it absolutely concerns him, because it's a band thing too. A band that he is a part of. I agree with his earlier statement. Don't you think there should be some transparency between all of you? How is it fair to Aaron that you keep him in the dark over family drama because in a way, a band is a kind of family," Nick argued. He looked up at Aaron, who was nodding. "Sorry for cutting in, I was just sick of staying quiet." Joyce smiled mockingly at Nick.

"Aww, how cute. If there's one mammal this whole thing doesn't concern, it's you." Nick rolled his eyes. He was about to reply to Joyce's callout but he re-tuned into the conversation between Jack and Jace going on behind him.

"I just don't get it, Jace. Why did you lie? What did you hope to gain by slandering us?" Jack demanded.

"I didn't want us to be perceived the same way the rest of our family is," Jace replied. Nick's ears peaked. This was new information to him.

 _The rest of our family?_ Nick thought

"You know how Mom and Dad are right? The way they talk about predators? Or what about at Isabelle at school for the past three years." Jace added, holding his arms out in front of him. Jack stared at the ground.

"Yes, but you know more than enough to know that we are nothing like them!" Jack shouted.

"The Hopps name is synonymous with predator hatred, Jack! I wanted to denounce it now so that when we make it, mammals won't be able to accuse us of it!" Jace pleaded. Jack sighed. Aaron was visibly upset by the information he had just heard. He stepped away from Nick and approached Jace, while Jack rubbed his temples in frustration.

"Wait, wait, wait. In order to denounce anti-pred behaviour, you had to fabricate an entire scenario where you find out your own brother and sister are perpetrators of said behaviour? That sounds pretty convoluted to me." said Aaron.

"You could have just denounced it as a whole y'know, or just your parents and older sister. And who was accusing you of it anyway? Well I have your answer right here: no one. It was a non-issue that you could have just allowed to remain dormant until it legitimately came up. But since you were so worried over a controversy that didn't exist, you had to go and throw Judy and I under the bus. You know how many people talk to me at school besides these three? None, and it's your fault. All of my 'friends' abandoned me as soon as news broke," Jack added, voice raw from shouting

"Now I guess I know the reason why you haven't introduced me to your parents yet, huh." said Aaron dejectedly.

"Oh, come on-" Jace began.

"No, Jace, forget it. You have nothing left to say, you've been caught," said Judy, interrupting him. "Just admit you lied, and we can end this." Jack's gaze darted between his accusers, thinking of something he could say to keep up his defenses. It was no use, there was nothing left to defend. He growled.

"Fine. I lied." he said, voice filled with spite. Jack exhaled, and a small smile came to his lips.

"Thought so. You were always such a terrible liar," he said. "You too, Joyce." Joyce wore a defeated expression.

The room fell silent for the first time in thirty minutes. Everyone was exchanging glances with one another, but nobody made eye contact for more than a second. Eventually, Nick made his way to one of the chairs against the wall and sat down. Due to their size, they weren't all that comfortable for him, but it was much better than standing.

"So...I believe Judy and I are owed apologies?" nobody said anything. "As well as a post on the band's Twitter account and the removal of the other post." Jack said, breaking the silence.

One by one, the members of the band apologized. Jake, Jayden, and Jessie's were rather short and Jack wanted more out of them, but he kept himself from asking since they hadn't said much of anything the entire time they were in there. When Joyce's turn rolled around, she was looking rather regretful of her actions. She stared up at Jack and Judy with wide eyes.

"Jack, Judy, I hope you guys know that I am truly sorry for what happened. I didn't think it would get as big as it did. I would say that I wanted to stop it, but then I'd sound like a total cop-out, because I didn't do anything to do so. I hope that you two can forgive me in time," Joyce said softly. Judy nodded while Jack simply smiled.

"I do," replied Jack. He looked up at Jace, who had yet to apologize to his siblings. "Well?" Jace stared with contempt.

"I might have admitted I was wrong, but I don't think I'm gonna apologize," stated Jace, catching everyone off guard.

"What? Why not?" asked Judy.

"Come on, Jace. Now isn't the time to be stubborn," added Joyce

"Yeah, you kind of owe it to him," said Nick. Jack scoffed

"Why are you talking? He sent you two to confront us for him. What a bitch!" he shouted. Nick grew angry once more.

"Actually, I was the one who convinced him to bring this whole thing up. When I first met Jack and Judy they were desperate for someone to have stand with them. When I proposed this to them, they begged me not to go through with it. I was prepared to do this alone. And when I found out that you didn't even tell Aaron about this? I was sickened. If you think all of that was okay to do to your family and Aaron, as well as resorting to insulting Jack for accepting help, who's really the bitch here. Because sources say it's you." Jack sneered at Nick. He could tell that Jace was angry, the way his ears drooped along his back and by the malice in his eyes. With clenched fists, Jace made for the door.

"You know what? Fuck all of you. I'm outta here," he said before slamming the door behind him. Everyone in the room stared at the door for a few moments before they all joined back in the center.

"So, is it safe to say that Jace is out?" asked Jessie. Jake, Jayden, and Joyce all nodded.

"I think I'm out too," added Aaron. "This isn't what I pictured when I saw myself joining a band."

"I don't blame you, shit's wild," replied Jessie.

"So now we're down a guitarist and a vocalist, and I don't suppose Jack and Judy want back in, right?" Joyce asked hopefully.

"No thank you," they both replied in unison.

"So the hunt begins again," said Jessie "Bummer."

The Hopps clan sans Jace, Aaron, and Nick all conversed between each other for another few minutes before Jack and Judy decided it was time to leave. They both said their goodbyes to Nick and Aaron before leaving the room. The two predators figured they no longer had any business at the burrow either, so they left as well. They navigated the hallway back to the main hall and began climbing the stairs back up to the surface. Once they were sure they were alone, Nick got to talking.

"What's the real reason you left?" asked Nick? Aaron glanced down at the fox, surprised.

"You could tell, couldn't you?" he asked. Nick chuckled softly and nodded.

"Yeah, it was right around when Jace brought up his parents. That's when I saw all the confidence drain from your body," Nick replied. The two exited the garage and began walking back to town. The sun was low in the sky, casting red light just as it had that morning.

"I can deal with a little drama, even coming from someone as toxic as Jace, but I just don't feel comfortable being inside the house of someone who hates my guts, hates who I am." Nick placed a paw on Aaron's side, causing him to jump.

"I can't reach your shoulder, so this is the best I can do." Aaron let out a laugh that turned into a sigh. "You can't let stuff like that get to you, man. You're not gonna change the way they think, they're at the age where it's just rooted in their personality. It's rare to meet one young bunny that isn't afraid of you, let alone an entire group. You should really reconsider your departure, but that's up to you. Besides, I never got to hear you sing." Aaron smiled, "It's up to you."

The town was quiet, as many families were just sitting down for dinner. Nick and Aaron wandered the main road, commenting on things they saw and looking into the windows of the many different shops. Eventually, they passed a street where Aaron began to slow his pace. When he stopped completely, Nick turned around to see Aaron standing in the middle of the road with a smile on his face, his paws in in his pockets, and a gleam in his eyes.

"What're you doing?" asked Nick.

"This is my street, I'm headed home now," he replied. Nick nodded.

"Ah, yes. Well, if I don't see you this weekend I'll see you on Monday." Nick waved.

"Yeah...and it's not like we won't text, right?" Aaron asked hopefully. Nick stuttered.

"Er, yeah. Of course we will." Nick slapped himself mentally for hesitating.

Aaron waved once more before he turned and started down the street. _Hayer._ Nick made mental note of the street name before turning around and starting his trek home. As Nick traversed the long, straight dirt road to his farmstead, he was faced with the sunset. The heat was unbearable, but the visual was astonishing. Beams of red light reflected off of the thin clouds, and the sky transitioned from red in the West, all the way to purple in the East. Nick took out his phone and snapped a photo. After mucking about with Instagram's publisher he managed to make a new post, a sequel to the one made that morning. The caption read 'Sweet Dreams, Bunnyburrow.'

Before he could put his phone away, he received a notification.

 _.fenrir liked your post._ Nick smiled.

* * *

 _I'm on a roll now, summer's being good to me today. I kind of want to start a new project, but I have half a mind not to because I can only really focus on one thing. I hope you enjoyed this one. Also, don't mind the story's name change, I just wanted to change it to something that rolled off the tongue a little better. -Prince_


	17. Chapter 17 - Mystery

In the following weeks, Nick was able to put the whole event behind him. As the days rolled by, his stress levels decreased and he was able to sleep soundly at night. After the first week, the real schoolwork began to come in, giving him a good distraction. Of course, with any friend group, minor situations arose, but nothing lasted more than a day or two. Nick focused all of his energy into completing assignments for his teachers and doing chores around the house while his parents worked out in the fields. When he wasn't researching for his next project or studying for a test, he was sweeping the floors, doing laundry, and keeping the yard clean. By the end of September, he was basically a shut-in.

With what little free time he had, he would spend online either playing games or just surfing, or he would be in town spending the day with Jack, Judy, Aaron, or any combination of the three. He was also making significant progress of repairing the pedal bike he found in the shed behind the house. From his initial disassembly, he realized that there would need to be a lot more put into it than he thought. Both inner tubes had developed several leaks and needed to be replaced, and components in the brake assembly, as well as the gear shifter were completely worn out.

Nick was able to reconnect with his friends back in Zootopia through the medium of Discord. Finn already knew how to use it, as it was their voice-calling software of choice back when they gamed together, but Honey had a little trouble with it. She wasn't a very tech savvy mammal, and trying to get someone to understand a piece of software without being there in person to direct them proved difficult. However, she caught on quickly and was able to make her way around the program with minimal issues and frustration.

After another long day of listening, taking notes, completing worksheets, and asking questions, Nick was ready to leave. He slumped in his chair, watching the second hand tick as slow as ever. Every second that passed felt like ten, and every minute felt ten more. He groaned as he turned his focus to his classmates, who were all chatting amongst each other. Presumably doing so to make the time pass quicker. For once, he actually didn't have any homework, nor any assignments to work on. He had just endured three tests in three days, and an oral presentation for his English class. It was safe to say, that Nick was burnt.

 _Please, with every fiber of my being, please let this day end soon._ Nick thought to himself as he stared at the clock.

Finally, after five more grueling minutes, the fourth bell rang signaling the end of the school day. Nick growled as he pulled himself upright and collected his things. He waved goodbye to Mr. Martin as he passed through the doorway. About five steps from the doorway he collided with a large, dark object. He looked up, already knowing who he had just walked into.

"Hey, Aaron. How come you weren't in class?" he asked, peeling himself away from the wolf's sweatshirt.

"I had some things to do downstairs. I'll tell you about it while we walk-" Aaron pointed over Nick's shoulder. He turned his head to see that there was a small group of bunnies forming behind him. "You're kind of blocking the lockers."

"Right...Yeah, let's go." The two predators started down the hallway side by side. He placed his paws into the pockets of his khaki pants.

"So, remember a while back when we all had that huge fight at the burrow?" Aaron began. Nick glared up at Aaron.

"Please don't remind me, I would like to forget that day," Nick replied as the memories began flooding into his conscience once more. Aaron placed a paw on Nick's shoulder.

"No, no, it's not bad, I promise. So after about two weeks of absolute silence from me, I decided to throw everyone, except Jace, into a group chat with me. It was dead at first, but after I kept sending messages for another week or two, we started talking like normal again. So I went down to the music room to talk in person and long story short, I asked them if I could come back and they said yes!" Aaron said cheerfully. Nick smiled.

"Hey, that's pretty sweet. Did they replace Jace yet?" asked Nick. Aaron thought for a moment before shaking his head.

"No, not yet. Jake's gonna be working extra hard for the next little while. Or maybe I could do some acoustic if they want to..." Aaron said, lifting a paw to his chin. Nick raised an eyebrow?"

"I didn't know you played guitar, Aaron. How come you never told me? I've been to your house and I've never seen it." Nick commented. The two turned the corner into the stairwell and began descending the stairs.

"I guess it never came up. I don't play it as much as I used to, so I just keep it in my closet." Aaron explained. Nick pondered over his answer before agreeing.

"I see. It'd be interesting if they said yes, it would chance the way the band sounds entirely." Nick replied. Aaron gasped.

"That reminds me, I left my bag in the music room!" Aaron shouted before practically sprinting down the hall.

"Hey, wait!" Nick called out, taking off behind him. Halfway across the school, Nick managed to catch up with his wolf companion and stop him. Both were breathing rapidly. "Why'd you run off like that?" said Nick breathlessly. Aaron shrugged.

"There's no way in hell I'm leaving it here overnight. I need it."

"That's fair," answered Nick as they both started walking down the hall once more. They were just passing the cafeteria when they heard a pair of voices echoing through the hallway. Concerned, they quickened their pace. As they drew nearer, they heard another voice. When they reached the end of the hallway, they finally saw what the cause was. In the middle of the hallway between the auto-shop and wood shop, was Jack, shouting at a fox Nick could only recognize as Skylar DeLuca. Further down was Gideon and Travis, looking on with disappointment. Nick rolled his eyes.

"Oh, Jack. Always in someone's fur," Aaron joked. Nick shot him an icy glare, making his smile disappear.

"Go get your bag. I wanna see what this is about," Nick said, pointing in the opposite direction. Aaron dashed off in the opposite direction and Nick crept closer to the feuding mammals. The incoherent shouts turned into swathes of insults.

"And here I thought rabbits were supposed to have good eyesight," spat Skylar. Jack rolled his eyes.

"You know that's a stereotype. Meanwhile, you fit the 'conniving fox' bill quite well," Jack returned. Nick cringed.

"Alright, what's going on here?" Nick demanded, interrupting them. As Jack turned around, he could make out a small trickle of blood coming from his cheek. He was also able to see a few scratches on Skylar's forearms.

"He was trying to break into this locker!" said Jack pointing at one of them.

"Yeah, because Travis lost is key again! If you'd have listened to me you'd know that, but you decided to be a hero!" shouted Skylar in defense of himself. Jack threw his arms up.

"But then you scratched me!"

"You caught me off guard!"

"Enough!" Nick yelled, cutting them both off. He looked over at Travis and Gideon, who were standing silently against the wall, watching everything unfold. "Why didn't you stop this? It's your locker right?" Travis looked around before realizing that Nick was addressing him.

"Oh. You're insane if you think I'm stepping in front of Skylar." Nick shook his head.

"Is that even your locker?" Nick asked. Travis nodded. Nick glared in Jack's direction.

"Gideon? You have a better excuse?" He thought for a moment before sighing.

"No sir, I do not, and I apologize." Nick groaned. Skylar growled.

"Alright, that's enough. Travis, whatever's in there's gonna need to wait till tomorrow. Get the custodian to cut it, because I don't have time for this. I'm outta here," Skylar said before storming off. Gideon attempted to stop him, but Skylar simply walked around him. It was at this point when Aaron returned with his bag. He saw what had just unfolded and decided it was best to just stay quiet. Confused, Jack turned his back on Travis and Gideon and walked toward Nick and Aaron.

"I think I'm gonna go home now, since I now have wounds to attend to!" he shouted. Skylar said nothing and turned the corner, flipping him off before he did so. "Coming Aaron?" He didn't even acknowledge Nick.

"Yes, actually. I have something to tell you too~" said Aaron as they both began walking. Now only Nick, Gideon, and Travis were left in the hallway. Slowly, Nick approached the other fox and weasel, scratching the back of his neck.

"So...Do either of you know how all of this started? I mean, I know about the bathroom thing, but surely this goes back further than before the summer?" Nick asked them. Travis shook his head.

"Nope, every time we bring it up he just gets all worked up like that, so we stopped tryin' to pry it out of him," Gideon added. Nick chuckled.

"Yeah, Jack acts the same way when I ask him." The three stood silently in the middle of the hallway, deep in thought. Nick racked his brain for ways he could possibly get the info out of Jack. Then it hit him. "Hey Gideon, do you want to figure out what's going on as badly as I do?" he shrugged his shoulders.

"Probably not, but it'd be nice to know," he replied. Nick nodded.

"Good, because I need your help. Since you can't get anything out of Skylar, and I can't get anything out of Jack, why don't we switch places?" Gideon thought Nick's proposal over. He rubbed his chin.

"That way, I'll be goin' after Jack, and you'll be goin' after Skylar. I like the way you think, Mr. Wilde." Nick smiled.

"Great! I'll see if I can catch up with Skylar. Aaron walks slow, so you should be able to catch up to them no problem!" Nick said before running off in the same direction Skylar did moments prior. Gideon glanced down at Travis.

"So, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?" Gideon asked. Travis nodded.

"Yeah, see ya tomorrow..." he replied. Gideon started down the hall to tail Jack and Aaron, Travis watched. When Gideon turned the corner, Travis began walking down the hall in the opposite direction. He sighed. "Tomorrow," he said under his breath.

* * *

 _A quick update. Starting with this one, chapters will be shorter than before. I don't want to put weight on my shoulders with large word goals if it will harm my quality. Regardless, hope you enjoyed. -Prince_


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